In February the work begins of catching up pheasants for stocking
aviaries, to supply the coming season's eggs. In mild Februaries,
keeper after keeper tells the same sad story--he "can't catch no hens."
Many of those caught in food-baited traps in mild weather are weak and
unsound, and some are injured by shot, and so are not desirable for
stock. The birds most capable of producing plenty of fertile eggs and
strong chicks are those that scorn to enter a cage, except during hard
or snowy weather. Some keepers make a practice of catching up the
desired number of stock-birds before covert shooting begins. Otherwise
they are caught up early in February--so that they may settle down to
the new way of life before the laying season is upon them.
"Catching up" is, in its way, a fine art. One secret is to place the
cages, before use, in the principal feeding-places without setting
them for action, for a few weeks. Cages of wire-netting with a roomy,
horizontal opening at one end, after the style of a lobster-pot, are
most effective; a scanty trail of corn leading on to an ample supply
within. These cages are ever ready, and so catch bird after bird; they
have the drawback that if the captives become restive they are liable
to bark their heads on the wire. Less satisfactory traps are made
with lengths of wood (local underwood is used preferably, to allay
suspicion) and only so high that when the trap is thrown the birds
cannot injure themselves if frightened. These traps seldom capture
more than one bird at a time, and they may be thrown accidentally. A
small annoyance of pheasant-catching is provided by the active little
tits of the wood, who carry the corn outside the cages, and scatter it
far and wide for the pheasants to pick up without running any risk.
When pheasants come regularly to feeding-places in fair numbers, a
large and effective cage is built of hurdles, one hurdle square. The
birds are allowed to grow accustomed to feeding therein. One day the
keeper lies hidden, and makes a family catch by stealthily dropping
a shutter attached to a string. Where a wood with plenty of pheasants
joins a belt or wide hedgerow the keeper may erect guiding wings of
wire-netting, which converge on a covered-in tunnel, and then gently
beats the wood through in that direction. The pheasants are run into
captivity in a short time, and with little trouble.
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