PHEASANTS IN COVERT AND AVIARY 



supply of green bones, together with barley meal and 

 biscuit meal, should form the stable diet. In addition to 

 this, vegetables are distinctly beneficial. 



In feeding penned Pheasants, it is necessary to guard 

 against one thing, and that is, never give them too much 

 maize. It is a food that lays fat on quicker than any other 

 cereal, more especially the internal deposition of fat, and once 

 this takes place, it is a barrier to egg-laying ; moreover, it is 

 conducive to indolence, and this in its turn predisposes to 

 vice, such as feather-eating, etc. 



Nitrogenous foods, such as greaves, green bone, beans, 

 peas, lentils, are all favourable to egg-production by stimu- 

 lating the ovarian apparatus. Give the birds plenty to 

 do whilst they are in the pens, scatter their food broadcast, 

 and let them have a dust bath, as the more they are kept 

 in amusement the less liability to disease, vice, etc. 



Quietude is advisable, as Pheasants like solitude. Eggs 

 usually appear about the first week in April, but commonly 

 during the third week. Make a practice of moving the eggs 

 from the nests three times per day, always, of course, leaving 

 a pot egg in. Store them carefully in the egg cabinets. 

 Egg-eating has been alluded to in another chapter, and if the 

 offender cannot be cured by the means recommended, that is 

 by giving her a rotten egg or two to eat, the best plan is to 

 wring her neck. When birds lay soft-shelled eggs it is a sign 

 that they want a supply of lime, and the best way to give this 

 is in the form of ground oyster shells, ground bones, etc. 



Keep the egg cabinet in a cool place, neither allow it to 

 be exposed to frost or sun. The eggs must not be shaken 

 upon any account. It is customary in many pheasantries to 

 pinion the birds by cutting the Pheasant's wings, but there 

 is no necessity for this, because the same object can be 

 attained by a strap or chain, such pinioning appliances being 



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