The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-08-06
WAKEMAN'S WANDERINGS.
The English Pheasant the Sacred
Ibis Of Great Britain.
Interesting Details Concerning These
MatchIessly Beautiful and Tooth,
some BIrds-vast Outlay for Brief
Sport Upon Great English Estates.
Especial Correspondence of the RECoR
UNIoN. Copyright. 1927
BANBURY, England, July Is, 1892.

UNION. Copyright. 1927
BANBURY, England, July 25, 1892
From any point of consideration the
English pheasant is the most splendid
bird that reaches the English market.
Somebody, perhaps an Irishman, has
called it ''the sacred Ibis OF Great Brit
ain" It is certainly all but worshiped.
The idolatry is an expensive one, for it
surely costs England, Ireland and Scot
land more than million pounds sterling
to rear, to shoot and to finally eat such
pheasants as annually come to the gun.
1.-THE vast areas of valuable inclosed
land comprised in gentlemen's seats and
parked demesnes of the nobility, which
are almost solely devoted to runs and
coverts for pheasants, should be taken
into account. and anything like fair
rental for these be added to the actual
current sums expended, the outlay upon
tn is one bird alone would annually reach
millions upon millions of dollars, and be
found to exceed all other forms of outlay
by British sportsmen combined.
Indeed, the pheasant is an interesting
bird in all its relations to life upon the
reat English estates-in its extraor-
lIlulollO-
rial worry OF keepers and prey of poach-
ers; IN It's occupying a greater attention
from Titled sportSmen than do all other
game birds Of Britain, and above all,
from its superb and matchless place
among the delicacies of the table. Every
one has heard how Sidney Smith, and he
was no mean epicure, asserted that he
knew of no purely earthly joy equal to
roast pheasant, with rich gravy, Clipped
potatoes and bread sauce. For an Amer
leans understanding, it may truly be
SAID that the pheasant is our turkey, par
fridge and quail in one ample and deli
ciouS frame.
The limitations of shooting in Great
Britain undoubtedly add much, from the
sportsman standpoint, to the deep British
interest at all times in these splendid
BIRDS. 1t is almost inconceivable to an
American how universally the sports
man, craze prevails in England, Ireland
and Scotland, and how every acre of land
and rod of shore, outside of and distinct
from all other uses to which it NAV be
put. IS sportsman's property, yielding
extraordinary returns in rentals for the
shooting and fishing rights alone.
On former occasion demonstrated that
the exercise of these rights and privileges
annually cost British sportsmen the
enormous sum of $4,000, 900, or $50, OO0, 900
IN American money.
This vast expenditure is almost wholly
confined to whatever pleasure may be got
In poking about moors, other waste
though thoroughly guarded tracts and
tenant farmers fields for snipe, quail
and grouse, capercailzie and deer. Pleas
ants, then, while they may eventually
come to the tables Of the vulgar trades
men and literary folk, are really the game
birds of the British aristocracy, and of
the Landed aristocracy at that. They are
found only within the grounds of gentle
where, as in pheasant farms, they are ex-
cluslvely bred to increase the numbers
upon the estates. All the conditions of
their existence in the first place, their
breeding, their increase and retention
are necessarily alone found within the
waIled-in parks of the country gentry
and nobility. And the sport found in
their annual destruction is so absolutely
exclusive that they can only reach the
common mortals' table, at from a crown
TO guinea brace, by way of the ubiquit-
GUS poacher's net or after coming to the
guns" OF the rich and titled and the great.
Every British nobleman's estate and
every English, Irish and Scotch gentle
mans country seat is, in point of fact, to
greater or less degree, a pleasantly. and
the increase and protection of this one
game bird are paramount to all other du-
ties or pleasures. From every accessible
means OF information, believe that one
million pheasants are annually sIaugh-
tered IN the United Kingdom. Of these,
over 100000 reach the London market
stalls alone; and this number represents
only those which have legitimately come
from the "battues" or Shoots" in Octo-
Der, November and early December. and
do not take into account the heavy annual
drafts by poachers upon the rich and
weIl-stocked preserves.
Necessarily great pains are annually
taken to keep up the pheasant supplies.
1here are some professional breeders
Their establishments are distinctiyeIv
known as game farms. From these
pheasant eggs, chicks and adults are often
supplied by the hundreds and thousands
TO the more aristocratic estates: although
nobleman or gentleman greatly loses in
caste among aristocratic Sportesmen if he
Is known to lack the ability of keepinp
his own preserves bountifully supplied
through the proficiency and cunning of
his own gamekeeper.
The Prince of Wales is by no means
first among the breeders, and vet on his
estate of Sandringham and the adjoining
property OF Castle Risingham which he
has leased for sporting purposes, as many
as from 1000 TO 5000 pheasants are an
nually provided by his royal highness for
his sportSmen friends. In two or three
OF the dukeries, and on other large estates
as We'll, immense pains and expense are
given to insure abundant supplies of the
IN
TO 4,OO0 birds at one "battue" has often
been recorded, and it is well known that
9.9O0 were shot during one season at
Elvedon. in Norfolk, which has an area
OF IL, 600 acres. There are other game
farms, as they are called in other parts of
England, and there is at least one such
huge pleasantly in Scotland on the Mar
quls of Ailsa's estate in Ayrshire.
On all estateS.o f average area the head
gamekeeper will be allowed a half-dozen
Keepers to assist him in breeding and
caring Tor the game, and in protecting it
rom lnroads OF poachers. Often the
number of under-keepers will be in
creased by drawing, at certain seasons.
upon the under-foresterS; so that where
from Z,GU0 TO 1900 pheasants may be re-
CURED for the autumnal guns of milord's
sportsmen guests, with the wives and
children OF the helpers who may live in
cottages within the demeSne walls
score of persons will be employed in the
breeding and caring for pheasants upon
one estate alone.
Usually these birds, which have es-
capped both the poacher's nets and the
sportmen' guns, are allowed to run wild
curing The winter; care principally be-
ing taken to keep their runs and coyerts
clear OF too great distractions by snow.
to have their hauntS occasionally pro-
yided with dry straw or leaves, and to
keep their drinking wells or water
troughs open and clear of refuse, and that
they are well fed with oats and corn. On
some estates during October and Novepl-
Der certain number are caught, taken to
the aviary or pleasantly, their wings
regularly clipped every two or three
weeks, and they are thus kept and fed
during the winter to provide the required
egg supply during the spring months,
the scarcity OF eggs being one of the
most serious drawbacks in pheasant
breeding.