232 PHEASANTS 



years and, after the experience of the past year, 

 have made up my mind never to rear in any 

 other way. 



Taking the dry food mentioned in 

 this letter, and so strongly insisted on as 

 the best of its kind by one who has tried 

 them all, we find that the chief ingredients 

 in the Nos. 1 and 2 pheasant foods, be- 

 sides the usual cereals and grains, are : — 



Desiccated Preserved Egg Yolk. — Of this 

 food Messrs. Armitage write : — " We have had 

 a great difficulty in getting this article exactly to 

 our mind, but now think we have succeeded ; it 

 is rather an expensive ingredient." 



Dried Flies. — Imported from Mexico by the 

 ton ; they are caught by the natives in long nets 

 stretched across the rivers and lakes, and then 

 dried on the banks in the sun ; they keep sweet 

 for a considerable time. 



FiNiAN Ant Eggs. — The best quality; gathered 

 by the peasants from the forests and taken to 

 Central Depot ; whence they are shipped during 

 the late summer, as in winter time the ports are 

 closed by ice. 



Russian Ant Eggs. — Markedly inferior to the 

 above ; only used when the Finian supply fails. 



(Messrs. Armitage inform me that they use 

 from 14-16 tons of dried flies and ant eggs every 



