ALIEN ANimaL.s.
A very considerable number of animals from abroad are being released in England. I am not thinking of the more notorious aliens : the grey squirrel, the little owl, or even the barking deer that began to spread from the same centre as the grey squirrel. I hear, sub rosa, that Belgian hares (which are rabbits) are being enlarged in order to increase the size and quality of rabbits in places where rabbits are already a plague, though, of course, a source of gain to the professional trappers. It would seem to be a work of supererogation. Again, there is a revival in the popularity of the Hungarian partridge, which happily has proved itself a good and useful bird. So far as my experience (which is vicarious) goes, there are just two good methods of settling the birds in. One is to take them out in pairs at dusk, put the hen and the cock in some suitable .ditch or cover at a chain or two apart. They fmd one another's presence by calling, and thereafter settle down in the place of their happy reunion. The other, and easier, method is to keep all the new birds within a wire enclosure, and after they have grown well accustomed to the place and feeding hours, to lift a good stretch of the wire and allow them to stray, but to continue feeding. Recollections of their rich feeding ground prevent any vagabond tempta- tions at the moment ; and the whole tribe, unlike the quail, is naturally of parochial habit.
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