WILD-FOWL SHOOTING IN SPAIN.

13

The

The golden plovers which I shot on the coast were birds of passage. The only circumstance of a distressing nature which occurred during this winter was the assassination of an officer of the 81st Regiment by a marker of a billiard table of Alicant. The marker had made some mistake in the reckoning, upon which this officer gave him a gentle tap with his cue. Spaniard said nothing, but when the officers were leaving and going down stairs, the villain took up a large knife used for cutting ice, and stabbed him near the left shoulder, and the poor fellow instantly expired. I was appointed president of the court of inquiry in this affair, and the surgeon on examining the body found the knife had penetrated an inch into his heart. He was a fine tall young man, lieutenant of grenadiers. The assassin escaped by a back door; and although every exertion was made to apprehend him, he contrived to escape to the French outposts. This proves the revengeful disposition of the Spaniard.

The shooting in the part of France where I resided was very indifferent. The Duke Decazes, Prime Minister to Louis XVIII., had a fine chateau about fifteen miles from the town of Libourne, with a large estate around it, on excellent soil for the breeding of game. The Duke was absent, but I was invited by his father to go and shoot there, and to meet a party of several French gentlemen. It was in the early part of October, and it was arranged that we were to start at seven o'clock the next morning, with two or three couple of hounds and our guns to shoot some hares. After beating about for a considerable time, we at last found one. Every one of the party ran in various directions to get a shot at poor puss; but she was so dexterous in her movements

that we all failed, except an old fat Polish coachman in the service of the Duke's father, to the great annoyance of the other sportsmen. However, as we had had no breakfast before our departure, and despairing of finding another hare, and the exercise having sharpened our appetites, puss was given over to the cook, and in a short time we had an excellent breakfast to console us for our want of sport. We afterwards went to shoot with pointers, and I was congratulated by all the party on my success in having shot a red-legged or grey partridge and a woodcock, which I verily believe was the best day's sport I ever had in Gascony. If the Duke would have gone to the expense of having two or three gamekeepers, he might have had any quantity of game; and there were many small copses fit for the shelter

of pheasants.

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CHAP. XXXI.

REARING PHEASANTS AND PARTRIDGES.- FOOD FOR YOUNG BIRDS. -PARTRIDGES ARE STATIONARY. TAKING PARTRIDGES WITH

NETS.

In the rearing of pheasants and partridges you should be well provided with coops, which should have railings in front, the top covered with a fine net; the railing should be of sufficient width to allow the young birds to run out and in. The great advantage of coops is that you can frequently change the ground on which they are placed, and prevent its being tainted, which would be almost sure to bring on disease in the brood. A decided preference is given to bantam fowls in the hatching of pheasant and partridge eggs, on account of their being of less weight, and particularly attentive in performing all the duties of rearing their young. When the pheasants are first hatched they should be fed with hard-boiled eggs, crumbs of bread, and lettuce leaves, well mixed with an addition of the eggs of meadow ants. At this tender age two precautions are essential; viz. never to allow them any drink, nor carry them abroad until the dew is entirely off the grass (every kind of humidity being injurious). They must be fed frequently and in small quantities, beginning at daybreak, and always mixing it with ant eggs. Cleanliness is most essential as regards the

health of the brood; and they should be taken in before sunset.

In the second month food more substantial may be given, such as eggs of the wood-ant, wheat, barley, ground beans, wood-lice, earwigs, and other small insects, to make a variety; and the intervals between may be gradually prolonged. About this time they are apt to be annoyed with vermin. To remedy this, place small heaps of dry earth or fine sand near them, by rolling in which they will soon rid themselves of the painful itching occasioned by the vermin. Water may now be given frequently, and always take care to have it clean, else the pip may be contracted; which, as in chickens, should be removed, and the bill rubbed with bruised garlic mixed with tar. The third month is attended with fresh diseases; the tail-feathers then drop, and others appear; a dangerous period to the pheasant. Ant eggs, given moderately, are efficacious in hastening the trying moment, and diminishing its danger. The young birds may now be carried with the crib where they are to be dispersed; if white clover grows in it, the young pheasants will pick the seed out of the heads, and it will add considerably to their vigour and strength. White clover seed, given when wheat or other grain is used, will prove very nourishing. They should also at first be fed in the field with some food they are fond of, but never twice in the same spot, and the quantity gradually diminished; and so by degrees they will be forced to provide for themselves, and become acquainted with the country.

When they are once able to procure their subsistence, they will soon become as wild as those in the woods, still retaining a kind of affection for those spots into

REARING PHEASANTS AND PARTRIDGES.

17

which they were first resigned to their liberty and nature. The following plan is recommended for a pheasantry :"Have frames seven feet long, and two feet and a half wide, similar in their form to those for cucumbers, and without a bottom: the large end is to be made as a coop for the hen, the bars wide enough for the young pheasants to run from the hen, to feed in the frame, which is to be covered with a fine-meshed net. If pheasants are kept from which the eggs are to be procured, there should be seven hens to one cock: to forward their laying, feed them with white pease; when they drop their eggs stick them in bran, with the small ends downwards, until there are fifteen, which is a sitting for a hen. Get small square boxes wide enough for the hen to turn in, with covers to hasp down, and holes to admit the air; make a nest of clean white straw; every morning take the hens off and put them under small coops, allowing each a quarter of an hour to feed and empty themselves; then replace them on the nest until the next morning.

"When they have sat a fortnight, remember to sprinkle the eggs with milk-warm water every morning just before the hen is put upon the nest, to prevent the eggs being shell-backed; when hatched let them remain with the hen about eight hours to dry, then move them into the coop in the frame, upon gravel, with the sun on the frame; feed them upon small ant eggs; after a week move the frame upon grass in a warm place. There must be a sliding-board to pen the young with the hen when moved; each frame must have small pans for water, and that for the hen must be fixed to the coop, out of the young birds' reach. Every morning give the young pheasants curd made with new