Sportsmen's Contributions
The habitual, traditional feud between sportsmen and poultry-keepers has been " liquidated " thanks to the war, if that abominable jargon of the moment may be so used.
The poultry-keepers, in spite of compensations, dislike the Hunts because they encourage foxes and they dislike game- preserves because when the thousands of pheasants are thrown upon the market in November down goes the price of the cockerel. Both classes of sportsmen are wiping out the causes of offence. First, the tale of foxes (as recorded last week) is being reduced by shooting and no bought foxes are being imported into foxless areas. Second, a strong recommenda- tion has been put forth that pheasants should not be killed in quantity at one date. It is obviously best that those who have large, or indeed, small numbers of pheasants in their coverts (or if the Fens are in question along their dykes) should shoot them, but the very big day (which at any time is in many eyes an abomination) is to be wholly avoided. It needs of course large numbers of beaters who are hard to find, and in any ease are better employed else- where, and most sportsmen would dislike such a proceeding in war-time, but the strongest reason for a slow, successive reduction of the head of pheasants is the organisation of the nation's food supply. If the birds for once are thought of in regard to the pot, they may make a by no means despic- able addition to the sum total of national foods. It may be said that this view is general among game-preservers and sportsmen.
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