Roadside Pheasants
Drivers of motor-cars through the Eastern counties this Christmas have been astonished by the number of pheasants on the roads. They were not dusting, partly because there was a sprinkle of snow (though Norfolk was freer perhaps than any other county) and because the modern road is almost dustless at the best of times. They were on the roads for the same reason that they were under the oak trees a little earlier. They were seeking and finding food ! The carting of sugar beet had reached its climax and a portion of the odd roots that fell from the carts was crushed to an available pulp. The pheasant as well as the rat is very well aware that this beneficent root carries from ten to twenty per cent. of sweetness ; and it soon became a favourite food. The habit of the root, which parsnip-like hardly shows above the soil, makes it safe even from the rather inoffensive pecks sometimes made at mangolds and turnips. Therefore a well-crushed beet becomes a wind- fall at this season when the red bitter-sweet berries and acorns and roots have become scarce.
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