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Vol (III to go out with your keeper)

III to go out with your keeper over your driving ground a few times on off days, of course without a gun. Drive all the birds you can into the roots, and then drive them over the fences. It will accustom the birds to the fences, and will enable you to determine their ordinary line of flight. As a rule, it takes a great deal to drive birds against their will, especially away from their feeding ground. Unbroken coveys must be driven in the direction they would naturally take; when scattered, you can put them where you will. Having settled your plan of campaign with your keeper, stick to it, unless the wind is contrary. When good cover exists, the beaters may be divided into three parties. Ten or twelve will be under the head-keeper, who must have thoroughly good men for the flanks. Two other parties, of four or five men each, must be under the control of competent under-keepers. While the head-keeper with his men drives the birds from the roots to the guns, the under-keepers and their men must keep on sending birds into the fields which are next to be driven. These U men must watch the flight of the birds from each drive, and, if they do not go into the roots, get round them quickly and put them there. The success of the drive will depend greatly upon the efficiency with which this manœuvre is carried out. The head-keeper should have driven as many birds as possible into the first roots by the time the guns arrive. He must not do this too early, or the birds will run out. Meanwhile the underkeepers have driven their birds to the next drive, and are on the look-out for birds coming from the first drive. The same [PARTRIDGE the birds you have sent back from the second field, but those which have been driven there by your under-keeper's party.

It will be best then to leave this ground and return to it in the evening, when you will probably have many more single birds. By the time you have driven field one the second time, your under-keeper should have driven into fields three and four, which you treat in the same way. It is far better to return over the same ground in the afternoon, rather than go on fresh ground after big coveys. Good bags are made out of single PARTRIDGE DRIVING: WAITING FOR THE BIRDS. process is repeated for the rest of the day.

The guns being in their places, blow your whistle once; the keeper should then direct his men silently over the field, at once pushing his flanks well forward. There must be no noise among the drivers; no man ever stopped a bird that meant to go back by shouting at it. In the first drive (supposing there are no Frenchmen) the bulk of the birds will come over in coveys, and the result will not be very deadly, but if all has gone well they will fly to the next root field and scatter. "You will probably have arranged in your plan to drive the second root field back to the first, and then the first again as before.

By the time you have picked up your game and got into your places for the second drive, the drivers, under the direction of the head-keeper, will be in theirs. After finishing this drive, you return to the first roots, in which you should find not only birds, not out of big coveys. You will probably probably find on a well-stocked manor, at the end of the day, that you have had some eighteen to twenty small drives, averaging from six to eight brace, so that the bag should be from 100 to 150 brace. But the guns must be able to hit a driven partridge.

In a good season you will probably be able to have a small second day on the same ground, or to put in a few drives when covert shooting. Birds must not generally be expected to stand driving three or four days in the season, as they will in the eastern counties, for the ground will not carry so many birds, and owing to the number of large thorny fences to which they run for protection they are lost to the drivers."

There are a few golden rules applicable to all driving:-- First. Let the drivers stand some hundreds of yards from the first drive until PARTRIDGE] the guns are in position, otherwise their talking will drive every bird away.

Second. Do not talk or show yourself when going to take your stand. If ladies are out, you should try and impress this on them; you may sometimes succeed; at any rate, it is worth trying.

Third. If the fence is low and you have to keep down, see that your loader stoops also. It is no use screwing yourself into the form of an "S" if you have an erect loader behind you.

Fourth. Before blowing your whistle to start the drivers, look round and see that your field is clear of keen agriculturists; they would spoil your sport and might get shot.

Fifth. If, during the drive, birds go back, or break out, let them go, rather than shout at the keeper.

Sixth. If it can possibly be avoided, do not drive from one root field into an adjoining one, as it is much harder to pick birds up.

Seventh. Always, if possible, have your guns in line.

Eighth. Always drive down wind, if possible; if this is not possible, drive across the wind, with your down-wind flank well up.

Ninth. If you deviate from your original plan, let your under-keeper's party know.

Tenth. Impress upon your keeper, though this may be your most difficult task of all, the absolute necessity of keeping his flanks in proper position. They must be well advanced. but not too much so. CHARLES C. TUDWAY.

JOHN F. HALL.

SPECIES SUITABLE FOR AC- CLIMATISATION. - The partridges form a large portion of the family Phasianida, the second family in the order Gallinæ.

If we include the Francolins and Odontophorinæ (American partridges), we have the enormous number of 152 separate species; of these by far the larger number are inhabitants of tropical climates, and therefore are omitted from this article. Of the few species available for introduction, the first is the so-called Snow-grouse of India, or Lerwa partridge.

Lerwa lerwa. This fine bird is of the size of a grouse, and chestnut red below, variegated with greyish stripes and bars above; it inhabits the high ranges of the Himalayas, and is a very sporting bird. It would do admirably if turned out in Scotland, and, as it flies strongly, would prove a most welcome introduction.

The next to be considered are the Snow partridges, Tetraogallus, of which there are THE TATE LIBRARY, BRIXTON, S.W. six species; they are all large birds, the size of a female capercailzie, and, coming as they do from very high mountainous regions, would live easily in Scotland and the north of England. Of all the partridge tribe, they are the shyest and wildest, and certainly the very best of all species not yet established in this country. The Caucasian and Himalayan Snow partridges, Tetraogallus caucasicus and T. himalayanus, are the best to attempt to introduce, as their homes are easier to get at than those of the other four species. Every sportsman ought to strive to get these grand birds introduced, for they undoubtedly are the finest and best of the partridge tribe. We next come to the Redlegged partridges, Caccabis, of which our well-known bird is a good example. There are altogether five species of these, only two affecting us-namely, the Arabian Chuckar, Caccabis melanocephala, and the Greek partridge, Caccabis saxatilis. The former would, from its large size and more desert habitat, be excellent to introduce into all the sandy parts of the south coast of England, while the Greek partridge would do well in the rocky parts of the north of England and Scotland. The two Sand partpartridges, Ammoperdix heyi and A. bonhami, now claim our attention; they come from Palestine, Syria, Persia, and Afghanistan, and therefore would be very desirable sporting birds if introduced into sandy places. Of the Francolins, which come next on our list, three only of some fifty-two species are suitable for our climate and conditions.

These are the common Francolin or Black partridge, and the Chinese Francolin, Francolinus francolinus and F. chinensis, and the so-called "pheasant" of the South Africans, Pternistes nudicollis, a large grey bird with a naked red throat. Of the three true partridges, not natives of England, the Bearded partridge, Perdix daurica, is the only one worth considering. As it comes from Siberia, it would most likely be a much better bird than our common partridge if introduced into Scotland. Of the American partridges, only three or four would do well here. The painted or Valley quail, Oreortyx pictus, ought to do well in the south of England, and the Californian quail, Lophortyx californicus, in the Hebrides. Ortyx virginianus, the Virginian colin, ought to do in most parts of Great Britain, and has several times been introduced in numbers, but somehow did not find favour with sportsmen, and was allowed to die out. 7 Of all these birds, however, the very best are the Snow partridges, and every one ought to try to get them introduced.

WALTER ROTHSCHILD.

U2 PARTRIDGE, DISEASES OF. The diseases from which partridges suffer resemble in the main those of the pheasant, but as the former are not reared and brought up in artificial surroundings to anything like the same extent as the latter, their diseases are less numerous and less is known about them.

Those forms of disease, such as enteritis and tuberculosis, &c., which are associated with the presence of some protozoal or bacterial organism, are especially favoured by man's interference with the natural condition of things. They are intimately connected with overcrowding, too close confinement and inter-breeding, all of which aid the transference of the disease from one bird to another, and, by lowering the average of health of the bird, render it a more easy prey to disease.

On the other hand, if proper care is taken, it is comparatively easy to keep birds under control free from the grosser parasites, such as thread- and tape-worms; but when these do make their appearance they naturally spread more quickly amongst birds in a state of semi-domestication than amongst wild ones.

Partridges, like many other gallinaceous birds, suffer from tuberculosis, though to nothing like the extent that semi-domesticated birds like the pheasant do. For this there is no remedy. Judging by the analogy of the fowl, the tubercle bacillus of birds differs from the corresponding microbe in man and cattle, both in its morphology and in the characters of the cultures which can be prepared from it.

It is important to destroy by burning-or burying in quicklime-the bodies of birds that have fallen victims to this disease, and to try to strengthen the survivors by the introduction of new and vigorous stock.

Fowl enteritis, sometimes termed the "Orpington Disease," is also not uncommon amongst partridges, and may be acquired from pheasants or fowls. It is an acute infectious disease, accompanied by diarrhea and drowsiness, ending in the course of a day or two in death. The walls of the intestine become congested and lined with a yellowish-grey mucus, crowded with bacilli, which also occur in the blood. cause of this disease may be the presence in the cells lining the bird's alimentary canal of the protozoon parasite Eimeria avium, but the subject requires further investigation. Fowl enteritis spreads rapidly, as the infective material passes into the soil and is readily taken up. Where possible, the affected birds should be destroyed and their bodies burnt.

The Young partridges, especially when over- [PARTRIDGE crowded, not infrequently become blind.

This is due to a form of purulent ophthalmia which is very infectious, and often destroys fifty per cent. or more of the young birds. The eyelids first become inflamed, and the inflammation spreads until the eye becomes completely closed up. The inflammation may extend into the lacrymal duct and throughout the nose, and often ends in the death of the sufferer. Another disease of the head which affects partridges is in appearance and symptoms very like the "canker" of pigeons. “ The most destructive disease prevalent amongst partridges is the "gapes," which is caused by the presence of a Nematode worm in the trachea or wind-pipe, and in the larger air-passages of the lungs. The worm " is known as Syngamus trachealis, v. Sieb., and popularly as the gape- or forked-worm. It always occurs in couples, a male and a female, and the posterior end of the male is firmly and permanently attached to the generative pore of the female, which is situated about th of the body length from the head. The females are from to I inch, and the males about th to ard of an inch long. Both male and female are attached by their mouths to the walls of the windpipe, &c., and their combined organisms have the form of a "Y." The worms are red in colour, which is unusual in the group to which they belong, but they probably derive their colour from the blood of their host. They were first recorded at the end of the eighteenth century in the United States of America, and it is not unlikely that they were imported in Europe from the New World. Young birds are most usually attacked, but not exclusively. The symptoms they show begin with a whistling cough something like a sneeze, and this is followed by a marked gaping or yawning, accompanied by a stretching of the neck, and in bad cases by the appearance of a foamy mucus at the mouth. There is a loss of appetite, a general dulness, and a ruffling of the feathers.

Unless the cause be removed, death usually occurs, though the old birds show much more power of resistance than the young.

The number of couples which proves fatal varies; two or three will kill a young bird, whilst it takes as many as twenty-five to thirty to asphyxiate an adult.

The disease spreads very rapidly. The female worm is crowded with eggs which in a short time contain fully formed embryos.

The birds frequently cough these gravid females up, and they are at once seized and eaten by other birds in the neighbourhood.

Either in this way, or through the death and decay of their host, the embryos, after rup- PECCARY] turing the walls of their mother's body, reach the ground and hatch out in water or damp earth in from one to six weeks, according to the temperature. They are then pecked up with the food. The eggs are capable of resisting adverse circumstances to a remarkable degree; even when swallowed up by earth-worms they are not destroyed, and if an earth-worm has eaten them and is in its turn eaten by a bird, the latter becomes infected with the parasite.

In an interesting article in The Field (March 26th, 1910) Dr. H. Hammond- Smith discusses how the young worms, swallowed down the œsophagus into the crop, gains access to the trachea, and points out that there is a good deal of evidence that they work their way through the walls of the œsophagus into the lungs, and reach the wind-pipe. Specimens of embryo worms have been found in the walls of the œsophagus and also in the air-sacs. Dr.

Hammond-Smith further describes certain pneumonic symptoms which he met with in examining infected birds.

SO The amount of loss occasioned by this parasite is considerable; the worm attacks a great variety of birds, particularly starlings and magpies, and is especially fatal to poultry. Crisp has estimated that in England half a million pullets are annually destroyed by it; and, speaking of partridges, the authors of "Shooting," in the Badminton Library, state that it is not unusual in certain seasons to find three or four nearly full-grown birds lying dead together where covey has brooded for the night.

Hundreds of young partridges have been found during harvest dead or dying from this most destructive complaint. a Such remedies as seem efficacious are described under the article on the Diseases of the Pheasant. These are difficult of application to the comparatively wild partridge, but the conditions of breeding lessen this difficulty in the case of the pheasant.

Three other Nematodes infest the partridge: Heterakis papillosa, Bloch, and Trichosoma longicolle, Rud., live in the intestine and cæca, the former in very great numbers, and Heterakis compar, Schrank, has been found in the intestine. They apparently do no great amount of damage.

Three tape-worms, Tania linea, Gœze; Drepanidotænia infundibuliformis, Gæze; and Davaniea urogalli, Modeer, are also recorded.

ARTHUR E. SHIPLEY.

PECCARY-The peccary is the small but very fierce wild hog of America, where it is found all through the tropical and subtropical forests. There are two chief species, the white-lipped Dicotyles labiatus, and the collared D. torquatus, the latter alone reaching the southern border of the United States. My own experience with peccaries has been gained in hunting them on the banks of the Nueces River in Texas.

Peccaries can sometimes be killed by ordinary still-hunting; and as they often spend the night in caves or hollow treetrunks, leaving a sentinel posted at the entrance, they can be killed by lying in wait at such places. More commonly, however, they are followed with dogs. In the thick forests the hunters have to go on foot; but in Southern Texas, where peccaries frequently haunt the dry, open mesquite woods, they should be followed on horse- PECCARY. back; and this is, of course, much more fun.

Although only weighing about sixty pounds, the peccary has extremely sharp tusks, and is a wonderfully game fighter. It does not rip like the wild boar, but inflicts exceedingly severe bites, and not only fights to the death with reckless courage against any odds, but at times makes entirely unprovoked attacks upon both man and beast. Untrained dogs, even those of large size, will speedily be killed by a single peccary, and, if they venture to attack a herd, will be literally torn into shreds. A big trained dog, however, can, single-handed, kill a peccary, and I have known the feat performed several times, the dog seizing the savage little pig either by the back of the head or between the haunches. Two or three well-trained dogs will bring a whole herd to bay, barking and threatening, but never actually seizing, while the peccaries stand in a compact mass, their backs hunched, their bristles standing, and their teeth chattering like castanets.

In Texas they are not often found in large droves; and in hunting them the riders and hounds travel leisurely to and fro over a likely country until a trail is found. This is then followed, the active cow-ponies dodging at full speed among the spiny treetrunks and huge cacti. When the game has once been put up, the run is not long. In spite of their tiny legs and feet, peccaries go very fast for a few hundred yards; but they are both short-winded and badtempered, and after a couple of minutes' galloping they usually come to bay, by preference backing up in a cluster of bushes.

They then charge recklessly at man, horse, or dog, and, if not stopped, inflict very ugly wounds. It is easy to kill them with either a rifle or revolver, although a man approaching them on foot with a revolver must exercise caution unless he is a very good shot. Personally, I found the long rides through the semi-tropical landscape, the sudden, headlong, scurrying runs, and the [PECCARY wards, and the presence of a strong smelling gland on the back.

COPYRIGHT U.S.A.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

PELOTA-" Pelota" means literally "ball." But, as now understood in Spain, the Basque Provinces of France, and in Spanish-American countries, the word stands mainly for the spectacular sport or exercise in the large public halls built for the purpose, of which Madrid has three or four. Originally the game was played with the hand, naked or gloved, or with a stick, and had some affinity with fives. Now the Cy 30 GROUP OF PLAYERS, SHOWING THE CESTUS. death stand of the savage little beasts very good sport, even though firearms were used; but the true way to kill them would undoubtedly be with the spear. They could probably be speared on horseback in most cases, and they are so small that a skilful man could readily kill them single-handed on foot. As I know nothing about the spear, however, I should strongly recommend that the first trial be made by two men acting together. For convenience in finding the game, dogs are always useful, and, indeed, probably indispensable.

Among other features, peccaries differ from Old World swine by the upper tusks being directed downwards, instead of upcestus, or stout basket-work gauntlet, is used universally for public performances.

The cestus was a Basque invention, and was used first at Ascain in France. It has revolutionised the old pastime by enormously increasing the propelling power of the players and the carrying force of the ball, and also by giving scope for niceties of manipulation.

Pelota, in some parts of Spain-notably Bilbao is a close rival with the bull-fights for public popularity, and the expert pelota. player readily earns £20 in an afternoon's game of less than a couple of hours' duration. Long before it fell into the hands of professionals comparable to our football PELOTA] players, the enthusiasm it evoked in the Basque districts was such that the priests and parishioners of the different villages in Spanish countries, detracts somewhat from the outsiders' interest in it. The players are in fact paid only out of the LISEZ TOUS 5: CYCLES MILISEZ s Sports Olom PIEUX FENSEIGNE Clou55 DUNLOP A GENERAL VIEW OF THE GAME. were wont to make long journeys across the mountains to respond to challenges for championship. One is rather sorry to remember that these good clergy even then betting percentages: the bookmakers are employed by the Pelota Hall Companies as registrars and intermediaries in the bets made. As may be supposed, under these PLACING THE BALL ON THE FRONT WALL. put money on the game. This may perhaps be held to be the beginning of the abuse which now, wherever the game is played circumstances, there are ways of getting at the players themselves, and for them the temptation to play dishonestly is not always resistible. For this reason the affection of the pelota public for such players as are absolutely trustworthy is extreme.

The game is played in a covered and A BACK-HAND STROKE. glass-lighted hall, with a cemented area that may be as much as 80 yards long by 40 wide.

At least two walls are required, though four might be used. Of the two, the playing wall proper is the length of the breadth of the playing field: the long side wall is, of course, the length of the hall itself, and both are about 12 yards in height. The third wall, opposite to the playing wall, though very useful in the modern game, may be considered an addition to primitive pelota. If a fourth wall (completing the hall's enclosure) were used, there would be no accommodation for the public, who at present here mass in boxes, galleries, and on chairs on the level. A line is marked about a yard from the floor on the two chief walls and also about a yard from the top of the walls. The ball is only in play between these two lines. When it hits the wall above or below them, it is a fault, and the opposing side scores a point towards the fifty which is commonly the number of points in a game. The playing pitch is marked with straight lines, 4 yards apart, parallel with the playing-wall. Four players are usual to a game; a back and a forward to either side. Each wears the cestus, or sickle-shaped basket, fitting to the forearm, with glove for the fingers. Both arms may be used, though it is only the finest players who are equally skilful with either arm. If there were two side walls instead of one, both arms would be called upon to about the same extent for those [PELOTA tricky straight deliveries which skim the side wall.

The ball is of solid rubber, small, and weighing about 4 ounces. The velocity with which it is used makes it a dangerous missile, and accidents, more or less serious, are not infrequent. Two judges are customary to a game. They sit near the boundary lateral playing line, and fulfil the part of referees. The starter of the game stands midway between the seventh and the eighth of the spaces already mentioned as belonging to a field some 80 yards in length; the ball must, in its initial rebound, fall between the fourth and the seventh space, or a point accrues to the opposing side, which then begins in its turn. With a fair start, it is for the opposing forward to deal with it. The game may then be said to be in full swing.

It is astonishing with what accuracy, force, and celerity the Basque professionals, who have played pelota and little else from boyhood, whirl the ball to and fro. Whenever an opponent fails to take this on the rebound, or returns it out of play, a point is scored, and a fresh start takes place.

But often for many minutes at a time there is no break, though the ball flies from the one wall the whole length of the hall to the other facing it without touching ground; in spite, too, of the difficult angles of its rebound and the deftest of quick, low, hard strokes only just above the playing line.

The spectators, at such times, shout themselves hoarse with admiration or anxiety, if they are deeply interested in the dollars of the game, and this is in a critical stage; the players perspire considerably, though clad only in flannels. The variety of the strokes overhead, underhand, with the arm at full stretch, &c., and the pitting of craft against skill in the delivery and acceptance of balls that cross from wall to wall, make the game very fascinating to watch. The back stroke, in particular, given with the back to the playing wall, seems to the mere an exceptionally remarkable spectator achievement.

There are many technicalities and elaborations in pelota as now played by the professionals; but the above may suffice as a general outline of the game. If it were introduced into England, a great future would be assured to it.

C. EDWARDES.

PERCH. -MEASUREMENTS, &c.-Length of head 3 to 4, of caudal fin 54 to 6+, height of body 3 to 4 in the total length.

Teeth-villiform in the jaws, on the vomer PHEASANT] and palatine bones, but absent from the tongue. Fins-dorsal spines rather strong, increasing in length to the third, which slightly exceeds half that of the head; they decrease in height from the fifth to the last; second dorsal fin lower than the first.

Pectoral two-fifths the length of the head, but not so long as the ventral. Second anal spine slightly longer than the first and rather above half the length of the rays. Caudal with rounded lobes. Scales-ctenoid, 15 or 16 rows between the lateral-line and base of the ventral fin: 75 rows descend from the back of the lateral-line. Coloursbright olive-green along the back, becoming lighter beneath, where it is often yellow or dark yellowish-white, occasionally tinged with pink. About five transverse black bands descend from the back down the sides, the first from just in front of and below the two first dorsal spines; the second from the fourth to the ninth; the third from the base of the last two and commencement of the soft dorsal; the fifth below its end, while a sixth often exists at the base of the caudal fin.

Sometimes these bands arise from two roots, or are Y-shaped. First dorsal fin grey, with two black spots, one anteriorly, the other over its last spines.

Day, Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. i. p. 3. [See also ANGLING.] PHEASANT. - REARING AND SHOOTING.-Coverts are generally stocked in these days with hand-reared pheasants. The wild hen pheasant is a bad mother, and will very seldom bring up a large brood. Pheasant eggs are procured either by purchase or by picking up the wild birds' eggs, or by collecting those laid in pheasantries. The last plan we consider to be the best and most economical. The reasons are obvious. Where a pheasantry exists and the required number of hen pheasants have been obtained, the rest of the stock may be killed down. When the birds are in the pheasantry, not only are they and their eggs safe from vermin, but they can be fed much more economically.

In feeding wild birds in the woods, the keeper will use much more food, for, besides satisfying the wants of his pheasants, he will have to stop the mouths of the squirrels and wood-pigeons, &c.

Pens. The two plans of construction which find most favour with pheasant rearers are: the one, a series of small pens, in each of which one cock and five or six hens are confined, and the other, the large pen enclosing a considerable area of ground, where any quantity of birds proportioned to the size of the pens may be kept. The large pens, which appear to be superseding the small, are generally erected on ground near to the keeper's house. If in a covert, a spot is selected where there is a good undergrowth; if in the open, the ground must be suitably planted with privet, small spruce, or any close-growing shrub. The size of the pen must be proportioned to the quantity of stock required. Half an acre of ground will accommodate forty hens, which should mean between 700 and 800 birds brought to the gun. A gamekeeper Henry Slannara RING-NECKED PHEASANT. of large experience describes his pen as follows:- "I have about an acre of ground sheltered from the north-east winds, including a clump of spruce and other trees. This ground is enclosed with fir poles about 9 feet high, which are boarded up 3 feet from the ground, the remaining 6 feet being covered with galvanised wire netting. In this pen I put eighty hen birds, which are renewed every season by exchange with some other preserver. I always let our own cock birds go in as they like. The plan works well, as the pen is in the middle of a wood. I get about 2,000 eggs by the 10th of June, and rear about 75 per cent. of them, after which I turn out the old birds." It is very important that the sides of the pen, up to the height of 3 feet, should be cased in all round, to prevent disturbance to the birds; but this may be effected with branches of spruce quite as well as with boards, a less expensive method. We have known pens of this construction used for some years without change of ground. Lime was freely used to sweeten the ground, and, as the pens were empty half the year, it remained wholesome. But we should advise that the pen be removed to a fresh spot every fourth or fifth year. If, in constructing the original pen, it is borne in mind that the whole structure will have to be shifted periodically, it will obviously occur to the carpenter to use half-driven staples instead of nails, and to make the attachments as few as possible, consistent with firm work.

Small pens must be shifted much more frequently than large. It is best to fill the [PHEASANT pected to give on an average twenty strong chicks.

Broody Hens. - Wherever pheasantrearing is pursued on an extensive scale, it will probably be found necessary to purchase a number of broody hens; these hens should not be heavy, and should be good COOP SHOWING SLIDING BACK.

COOP WITH FRONT BOARD OFF.

COOP SHOWING FRONT BOARD READY PROPPED FOR STOPPING BIRDS IN.

COOP WITH FRONT BOARD ON FOR THE NIGHT. pheasantry before the shooting season commences, because by this means a stock of perfectly healthy birds is secured. No good keeper would think of permitting an injured bird in the pheasantry. Hens are best caught at their feeding places in hazel rod traps made by the keepers. Every pen ought to contain a heap of powdered oystershells, and, if it is not a light soil, sand for dusting should be provided. In addition to ordinary grain, green food is essential to the health of the birds, and we have found it a good practice to supply the keepers with surplus garden stuff and mangolds to scatter about in the pen during winter and spring.

When birds begin to lay, which in ordinary seasons is about the middle of April, eggs must be collected daily and placed in safety. At the same time, up to Henry Stannard COMMON PHEASANT. the end of May, all eggs of wild birds should be gathered and added to the stock.

After the middle of June the penned birds can be turned out, and care must be taken for a time to see that they are well supplied with food. Penned pheasants may be exa sitters and mothers. The black red game is one of the best, and a first cross with the Wyandotte, which is a good sitter, will produce an excellent variety. When keeper buys hens from a farmer, he ought always to take them off the nest himself, so as to be sure they are thoroughly broody.

A well-known keeper writes: "I find the best plan with freshly bought hens is to set them temporarily in very dark boxes in a quiet, cool barn, where nothing can disturb them. The best plan for feeding them is to place a number of coops in rows just outside the barn, on grass. This is a better plan than tethering them. When they are thoroughly quiet, which is generally after three days, I take them to regular sittingboxes, which are on the turf. If the turf is fairly light and porous, I simply beat a depression in the ground and place in it a little soft hay, beating it down so that the hen does not get entangled and break the eggs. I generally contrive to keep one handred broody hens in advance of those actually sitting on eggs. The first eggs are set about April 23rd, and then I continue setting batch after batch, every three days, through the laying season. For the first three days I allow my hens ten minutes for feeding, and gradually increase the time allowance, till at the end of sitting they have about three-quarters of an hour. The time allowance must depend a good deal on the weather. As soon as you find the eggs of one batch are well chipped, select a time when the hen is quietly feeding, and take three-quarters of the chipped eggs from each nest. Place these eggs in an incubator to hatch; but leave each hen three or four eggs so as to make a mother of her. By this means fully IO per cent. of the young birds are saved in hatching. Young birds hatch out well in the incubator, and are PHEASANT] immediately placed in the drying-box at the top. It will generally be found that they are ready to go out at the same time as those that have been hatched under the hens. It is important to observe how the hens behave with the few chicks hatched under them, as this enables you to pick out the best mothers. The coops to receive the young birds should be placed on level turf not contaminated by poultry, as close to home as possible. The coops and guards are placed in rows at intervals of two yards with the fronts facing east, so that the hens and birds get the morning sun only, and not the meridian sun, which is too powerful.

In this position give the birds three days, making up any birds that may have been lost during that time by trampling, &c. 66 My rearing fields, let me say, are at a distance of five miles, and there the empty coops are all placed ready in rows to receive eighteen broods of eighteen young pheasants and eighteen mothers. The horse and they may be guarded a few hours longer.

It is unwise to remove the guards when the winds are rough, as you may lose young birds by so doing."

An acre of ground is the usual allowance per hundred birds, and the selection of this ground is a matter of great importance. Birds must never be reared on stale ground, nor should any field be used where the coops have already been placed within a period of three years. In-breeding and stale ground are two of the chief causes of the mortality of young pheasants. Keepers like to get their young birds into a good feeding pasture which has been well eaten off, and so let young birds and young grass grow together.

Feeding. No water should be given at any time to the young birds, nor to the hens, for moist food, consisting of Embden groats or boiled maize, is given at least once a day. There are many different foods and different ways of feeding, especially since HEN PHEASANT ON NEST. light spring-van being got ready, and my appliances for carrying young birds being brought out, I have four men at my disposal. These take out of the coops six hens in rotation, and place them in separate compartments in numbered crates. Then one man moves to the front of each coop and runs the brood into it and slips on the front board. He then catches the birds very gently, and drops them through a small hole in the sliding-lid of the box used for transporting them to the field. When all the broods are thus secured, the appliances are quickly loaded, and the van is drawn off to the rearing ground. On arrival, the process of loading is reversed, and the birds taken from the transport boxes are placed in the coops with the fronts on. The proper mother is dropped in to each lot of birds, and is allowed to brood them for, say, ten minutes. The fronts are then taken off and the birds fed, but if the weather is rough the introduction of so many artificial meals, &c. We give one specimen of the feeding adopted by a most successful rearer: "Our birds are fed five times a day, commencing at 6 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m. The food at first is composed chiefly of hard-boiled eggs, rubbed through a sieve, and a small proportion of Spratt's medium game meal.

This must not be soaked, but steamed, so as to make it soft, but not wet. To these must be added sharps, sufficient to make the whole into a crumbly paste. This food is scattered broadcast among the coops.

When the birds are a fortnight old we begin to add well-boiled rice with the Spratt's meal. We now discontinue steaming, and add a little seconds flour to the sharps in the proportion of one to two. We also boil old rabbits' or sheep's heads and hinges; mince the meat and add to it the food, using as an alternative Spratt's best granulated greaves, which in wet seasons is perhaps the best food of all." Many keepers use custard with boiled rice and chopped green food, and some prefer canary seed and maccaroni boiled and chopped as a change. When coops are in the rearing fields, it is best to keep them facing east while the birds are small, irrespective of rough weather.

If the ground be bare of shelter, branches of spruce or some tree in leaf should be placed near every coop, so that the young ones may have shelter from the sun as well as from the hawks. The birds will remain in the rearing ground till from five to seven weeks old.

Diseases. One of the greatest sources of mischief to young birds is the use of stale food. A lazy keeper mixes his food overnight, so as to save trouble in the morning. [PHEASANT more prevalent in some districts than in others. They may be due to heat and exposure, but we are inclined to think that in some instances the disease is induced by rearing the birds on a new clover field. The pollen from the rye grass gets into their throats and eyes, producing a sort of hay fever. If the birds are being reared under such conditions as these, move them away.

Foster Mothers. The food of the hens while birds are young should be steamed or boiled, for, if fed with hard uncooked food, the young birds are apt to get killed by swallowing it. Whole maize is very fatal in this respect. Good food will consist of two parts of finely kibbled maize and one part wheat. The whole is put into a WAGON FOR TRANSPORTING COOPS.

The food becomes tainted, and thousands of birds are lost annually by eating this sour indigestible stuff.

Gapes are common among young birds.

When the disease first shows itself, limedust blown into the coops early in the morning is a good remedy. Subsequently, garlic, chopped fine, should be given once a day, mixed with the food. Ground ginger added to the last feed at night is also recommended.

Diarrhea is generally due to stale eggs or sour food. It must be stopped at once.

Arrowroot mixed with the food soon checks it.

Cramp is one of the worst diseases, especially on sandy soil. In hot Mays, with frosty nights and north-east winds, it is almost sure to make its appearance. The best treatment we know is to move the birds at once on to some sheltered low-lying field on a heavy soil.

Ophthalmia and Blindness seem to be bucket with boiling water just to cover it.

When cool, sharps are added sufficient to thicken. Barley meal may occasionally be substituted for sharps.

In ordinary cases, where only a moderate number of birds are brought up, it is the usual practice to move the coops from the rearing grounds direct into the coverts; but when a very large number of birds are reared, and there is a danger of stale grounds, the rearing ground may be situated some miles away. In the latter case many keepers prefer to shift their coops in the first instance to some fields in the immediate neighbourhood of the coverts. After the birds are about five or six weeks old there is trouble in getting them to enter the coops, so it is unwise to defer the process of moving longer. The plan adopted by the authority already quoted is thus described :- "On the night when I propose to move my birds, I have thirty loose bottoms PHEASANT] ready. One man takes the front of the coop and raises it gently till it rests on the back part of the bottom board. He then draws the coop with its contents on to the board, and, whilst he is doing this, another man, kneeling down at the back of the coop, works his hands underneath it to prevent the hen and birds from being nipped. A screw-driver should always be carried to tighten the buttons and make the front board secure. The bottom board should be as tight as possible, and should be made fast to the coop by string. When the required When daylight dawns he will find his birds draw out as readily as if nothing had happened. I may say that by adopting these precautions, which to some people may appear too minute, I have removed thousands of birds with merely a fractional percentage of loss."

When the birds have been a week or two in the field they will begin to draw into the coverts, and then the coops may be dragged in too.

The Feeding. As the birds gradually get older, the soft food is replaced by Indian PHEASANT SHOOTING: SHOWING THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE GUNS HEADING A BEAT. number of coops are ready, the wagon is led between two rows, and they are carefully lifted in on either side. As they are placed in position in the wagon they should be tied firmly. Everything requires to be done expeditiously, and yet carefully. On arrival at the field, take the coops off carefully, and place them in rows. If the field is very bare of cover, range them by the hedges. "The operation of liberating the birds on their new ground must be conducted with equal care. When the coops are unloaded and in position, first untie the strings so as to release the bottom board, and turn one of the wooden buttons on the front.

Shortly after, when the wagon has left, one man goes carefully round and turns the other front button, quietly moving the front board about six inches from the bottom. corn, tail wheat, &c. In certain spots in the wood, low frames of woodwork are erected by the keeper, and these are thatched with unthreshed barley straw. These not only form shelter for the birds, but keep them amused. Barley straw may also with advantage be scattered along the principal paths and rides.

Many keepers summon the birds to feed by whistling, but this is a practice which we cannot approve. Not only may poachers avail themselves of it to collect birds, but we are also of opinion that it tends to render the birds tame. The best pheasant-rearers that we know are in the habit of broadcasting the grain and feeding the birds in silence.

Dangers from vermin and from poachers attend pheasants in all stages of growth (see PRESERVATION OF GAME).

SHOOTING.-Coverts vary very much in their adaptation, natural as well as artificial, for the purposes of pheasant-shooting. CORRECT POSITION FOR TAKING A BIRD STRAIGHT OVERHEAD. Amongst the natural advantages we place, first, a good supply of water, which tends to keep the birds at home, and, second, position on the side of a hill, which ensures good sporting shots. Amongst other important advantages are small coverts placed in the centre of the estate, and a sound undergrowth of copse wood. The craft of the forester is often a valuable auxiliary to that of the keeper, and if underwood is allowed to get hollow through the ravages of rabbits or through general neglect, the difficulties of a keeper are greatly increased. If, however, a covert has fallen into bad condition, and the head of game is large, much may be done to show pheasants by bushing corners and flushing places with cut evergreens, such as spruce or laurel. One practice which keepers adopt is much to be deprecated, that of splashing saplings at the rising places. In every covert there should be good roosting trees; if spruce does not exist, tell the forester to allow the ivy to grow on a certain number of trees. When a wood is cut it will often not hold game for three or four years; in such a case, rake over the soil and plant rape, mustard, or buckwheat.

Beats. Keepers make a mistake in not having more corners or stands; long waits are fatal to beating and annoying to the guns. The maxim to be impressed on the keeper should be "little and often." There should never be a sound in covert except from the person who is directing the beaters.

Beaters should always be numbered, and [PHEASANT should keep the same relative positions, so that they can be called by their number.

The position of the head keeper is in the centre of the line of beaters, and he is supported at each extremity by the best men he has got. A good line is imperative.

Beaters should wear emigrants' smocks. In small coverts, and where there is a large head of game, it is best to have two or three sets of beaters, and so drive the birds backwards and forwards, and avoid delay.

To beat birds from covert over a given point, the best possible way, if the covert admit, is to form the beaters into a horseshoe, keeping the flank men well forward. The end men should then halt and let the centre bring the birds forward. It is a mistake to hold back the beaters when birds start to go back. If the birds are going forward in too great numbers, let the beaters halt, but do not stop them because birds are going back. Drive birds away from home, if possible. There is no fear of their not returning to the coverts in which they roost, and the chances are you get better shots. If birds are likely to fly low, strain a piece of wire netting about forty yards from the end of the beat-a line of feathers or "sewin" [see SHOOT- ING] will do as well. If a number of pheasants are driven to another covert, shoot that covert as quickly as possible. In other SWINGING AT A HIGH BIRD. work, follow your birds. Always, where birds are numerous, and the ground admits of it with safety, have two lines of guns PHEASANT] 3°3 and place them at the angles of a line, See that your loader has two cartridges ready between his fingers if he is a smart loader, he will. thus with the sporting shots at the back. Many extra birds will then be accounted for. Good high birds go far to make shooting a success.

It is a good plan, where turnips or very rough grass, heath, or gorse adjoin a flat cover, to drive the birds into it. Get the guns in line, and, if the piece be a large one, say forty acres, halt them half way through it. Let the beaters then go round and bring the birds back. They will always go home, and generally fly high.

The best way to avoid all suspicion of partiality towards the guns is to let them draw for places and move down two each time.

To the guns we would say, "Do not depend upon your host to provide you with a loader at the last moment." Either bring your own loader, or intimate beforehand AN EXAMPLE OF RAPIDITY IN SHOOTING. THE SHOOTER HAS CHANGED GUNS BEFORE THE BIRD HAS FALLEN TO THE GROUND. that you will want one. Kill all birds in front of you, if you can, and do not take birds for choice which have passed you.

Always kill cocks in preference to hens.

THE BEATERS: SHOWING THE ADVANTAGE OF WHITE SMOCKS.

Stops. The passing of the Education Act has rendered it almost impossible to obtain boys as stops, but their place is ably filled in some parts of the country by elderly females. The number of stops may be materially reduced by the use of the sewin.

Dogs. In a big day's covert-shooting retrievers are not much used, but there should be some out with under-keepers in order that every wounded bird, if possible, may be collected.

The tendency of modern shooting is undoubtedly towards excess. A great number of birds is neither conducive to good shooting nor to sport. There must be a lot of low flyers, and a large proportion are good for nothing after they are shot. On the other hand there remains the argument that the public profit by the low prices at which pheasants are placed on the market.

CHAS. C. TUDWAY.

JOHN F. HALL.

SPECIES SUITABLE FOR AC- CLIMATISATION. -The pheasants form a section of the family Phasianida, which is the second of the four families of the great group Gallina. Though convenient to treat the pheasants as a distinct section of the Phasianida, it is structurally almost impossible to separate them from the partridges, the spurfowls (Galloperdix) and the bamboo partridges (Bambusicola) form connecting links. However, for all practical purposes, they are easily distinguished. The pheasants are a large group, as they number some fifty to sixty species, all of which are sporting birds, and good for table purposes. as These fifty or sixty species have been divided by ornithologists into twelve genera, but since the first edition of this book appeared, the views as to the species and nomenclature have vastly changed, and many new forms have been described. In 1898 I treated the sixteen forms allied to the common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) as distinct species; but I am now convinced, as are most modern unprejudiced ornithologists, that they are only local races of one species, so that with fourteen new forms of P. colchicus described since 1898 and three other forms described, we find that the true pheasants (Phasianus) number six species as follows :- 1. Phasianus colchicus, with thirty local races. 2. Phasianus reevesi. 3. Phasianus ellioti. [PHEASANT This genus is at once distinguished from the other pheasants by the very long wedgeshaped tail and the absence of a crest. Of the thirty-six species and sub-species of true pheasants, thirty are more or less like the familiar common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), and will cross freely with it and with each other and produce fertile offspring.

We will now take these thirty sub-species in detail :- I. Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus). - This bird was certainly introduced into Western Europe by the Romans, though it is doubtful if they, as alleged, introduced it into England. Its true home is South Russia, Transcaucasia, and Asia Minor, but it is now, both wild and semidomesticated, found all over Europe. However, in Great Britain, France, Holland, parts of Silesia, and North Italy it is now practically, if not quite, impossible to find a pure-bred true "Common Pheasant," as, through the introduction of other pheasants, the true race has been swamped, and we find only hybrids showing traces of three or four different species, which might almost be called mongrel.

The pheasant in Europe is a polygamous bird, a cock in a wild state mating with from four to ten hens, each of which lays fifteen or twenty eggs; but in its own native country it is said more often to pair than not. This is, however, thought to be an erroneous statement. 2. Persian Pheasant (Phasianus c. persicus). This pheasant is nearest allied to our "Common Pheasant," but differs from it in having nearly white wing-coverts, very narrow bars on the tail, and very dark red on the sides of the belly. It inhabits