THE REARED PHEASANT 229 



entertain too a wholesome respect for the 

 methods — even though they amount to 

 idiosyncrasies — of the man who habitually 

 turns 90 per cent of his hatch into the 

 coverts. 



On the rearing-field all good keepers 

 work on much the same plan, using the 

 food that they have found best suited to 

 their needs, keeping their young birds 

 healthy and hungry — the latter always a 

 distinguishing characteristic among the 

 chicks of the successful rearer — using for 

 the most part simple foods and simple 

 remedies ; only in one particular of any 

 weight is there marked variance in their 

 methods, some attaching considerable im- 

 portance to giving their young birds at 

 the coop a constant supply of good water, 

 others never watering their birds at all. 

 The former seems the more rational 

 course, but when judged by results there 

 seems little in it. 



While we may thus pass over all the 

 accepted methods of rearing in well- 

 advised silence, there is one, so far little 



