The Scarcity of Pheasants

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2107, 28 May 1898, Page 2

The Scarcity of Pheasants

[by RED-WING.] Riding one fine morning lately along a country lane —typical of country jlanes in-, the North. Island! where -there|is any decent pasturage, , with-, disconnected fringes of melancholy looking; pines occurring at irregular intervals* ,amongthelbwhedgeson one side, and rolling prairie, theother stocked with grand! {looking. sheep which scampjSrTaway. thirty, or. forty, yards-only to stop andi 'whisk.round, like deer.in an English; {park;, and’ stare-at the passing horseman—the writer flushed, not a- few/ which, disappeared- with a-, i whirr that -betokened the cock: l bird’s strength; of wingrinto the neighbouring cover.. The birds*were>ot j wild,. and. the reasons* assign edi /cause oft their scarcity thias (namely, wholesale slaughter; out off season, and; unlicensed;- ‘potting.’ by/ youngsters struck, me as being untenable.. Birds- are undoubtedly scarce,, but is it not jjist a. trifle ungenerous to* level-a, hasty, aceusation of, unfair andl ]unsportmanlike behaviour against local! {gunners,on-suchtslender. grounds as we> {have in this. case. ■ My experience, off eportsmen is, that they of all men. are,* honest in, observing, the? regulationsmade for their mutual protection, and; au, breach of which regulations givesthe; breaker, such an unfair advantage over/ his fellows. L have alwaysfirelfel could; .trust a. good’ sportsman.. That suchi I {are, par excellence, men of. their word; In the old days knocking, a. hare out the head-in.its form, on* a- moonlight. jnightj.ora sleeping pheasant from the; low branches of a forest tree, were pronotab.allihfavpr with; those; who followed the fascinating pursuit, ,of poaching—the-romance of crime{the poetry of thieft^ —it was open warfare with my lord, or the squire’s;/ keepers with them.. Under pressure of.: want a gang of, poachers would organ-! ise a big raid, and would not hesitate,v to drive hundreds- of head, of game; /with the aid.of their lurchers into theirt capacious- nets, while their, comrades; /keptthe keepers off. with their gunsBut, these audacious gentry, generaliy/ drove out from large towns, acting in! i collusion with: extensive dealers im game, and-' travelling, in- splendidlyhorsed. equipages which, defied, pursuit, once they gpt the spoil aboard; . The, genuine poacher—the man in.whomtfie; hunting instinct amounted, to a paasionu ovenriding every other consideration,, /disdained, such unsportsmanlike pre'ceediugs. He; would :go put with his gun - and lie in k ditch all night for the sake? of a quiet shot. The ga,me keepers* nearly, always beat them fip the long jrun—they caught flagrante dilicta* ! and their end; was transportation to* . Van, Diemau’s land—but, * a failure, sometimes, is only Godls road to sue—/cess,’ and,the exrconvict consigned to# : a temporary heil at Port Arthur or/,Macquarie Harbour passed, through! the ordeal .unsoathed, fiuding himselfat last a free man in an earthly paradise where game laws were unknown*, and the woods-fullof the; ‘ tall deer ’ —'' - which, means kangaroo and wallaby im : this instance—that Englishmen lo\ ala's lay.. I cannot, for the life of me believe, that the scarcity of birds is due? to unsportsmanlike slaughter before the termination.olthe close season,. Harking back-to the country, lane-some? miles from. Te Aroha in. a direction, I must not forget to.meutioua that the/<ms aud origp oi the foregoing; remarks to what I. conceive to be a. ; groundless charge lie in the observation made by me while taking.stocks of.the country on that occasion ; which, -observation, consisted-in-the,- fact that /there had been no bush fires in the. immediate neighbourhood, of wh‘e?e L /flushed, the birds,. I observe in a, /Wellington, paper that at Pahiatu and, other, localities where, birds were plentiful last year,, they, are very scarce this. In the Wairarapa again anothenjournal alleges pheasants are nearly as rare as moas. The cause of all this, scarcity is not attributed to unsportsmanlike behaviour oh Hie part of those ; who ought to-know better; ,but;to feushi fires which are not only known to have {destroyed thousands during,the brooding season,. but to have causedibirds to » disappear iman unaccountable fashion. Now may not our. own little bush fires, have disgusted the pheasant with his. former habitat;:driven; him. away im ! search of fresh fields and pastures new, ■At. Whakatane, for instance, I hearon good authority, a party, of three? bagged 65. brace in a couple of days* Nor i&. Whakatane an isolated, case? where goods bags can be made; wh ra--ever bush fires-are absent biMs are? plentiful. I.think, though /that this is a hasty, and ii!put together piece of writing,., that fromi somewhere or other a gooddefencecould; be dug out of it for. the sports . ■ who at present repose under theshadow of a oharg© of unsportsmanr.like conduct;. for the oharg© the youngsters of. making the , birds* wild is pure “ bunkum.!’