I'HK OOLOUIST 



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far the greater number of those hatched 

 that we found out how to care for them, 

 so we could raise them with any degree 

 of success, and by that time our old 

 hens had stopped laying. Of the 230 

 chicks hatched out we have only suc- 

 ceeded in raising to maturity thirty-six, 

 which we have recently liberated. 

 This seems a very poor return for all 

 our trouble and expense, but I am cer- 

 tain that next year we can raise seven- 

 ty-hve per cent, of those hatched; when 

 we began last spring no one knew any- 

 thing about raising them, and we went 

 by such instruction as we could gather, 

 with the result that we lost nearly all 

 oar birds, and it was not till we began 

 to follow the dictates of common sense 

 that we succeeded in raising any. I 

 would advise any one trying to raise 

 Pheasants to burn up all printed matter 

 he may have on the subject and go at 

 it to reproduce, as near as possible, the 

 natural conditions as the bird would 

 tind them in the woods, giving them all 

 kinds of insects and plenty of fresh 

 water. There is no reason why they 

 cannot be raised if they are properly 

 cared for; the last hen we had come off 

 hatched eleven birds from thirteen 

 eggs, and we raised nine of the birds, 

 and let them go, so you see if we had 

 been able to do anything like that at 

 first we would have had a tine lot, but 

 experience is absolutely necessary, and 

 when we began we had none; however, 

 we propose to keep our old birds over 

 till next year, and fully expect to raise 

 a good lot of birds. I hope that those 

 who like us have tried to raise them 

 and failed, because of inexperience, 

 will not get discouraged and quit, but 

 will keep at it till our State is well 

 stocked with them. We hope for some 

 good results from-^the thirty-six young 

 birds we turned out this summer, and 

 if they breed at all and we raise some 

 more next year we will soon get the 

 country stocked with them. 

 From Colonel J. Howard Willets. 



Fort Elizabeth, Aug. 29, 1898: The 

 pheasants sent last year did splendidly, 

 and if they had not been killed by law 

 in the fall we should have had hundreds 

 of them for breeding this spring. The 

 last consignment this spring also did 

 well. I placed two hens and a cock 

 from last year's birds in a pen; one hen 

 laid twenty seven eggs and the other 

 thirty-two, but neither hen would set. 

 I took the eggs and placed them under 

 a bantam chicken, and they hatched out 

 two broods. These lived'and did well, 

 and this spring I turned them loose, so 

 we had them to begin with. This 

 spring's consignment of one dozen I 

 turned out at once. I located four 

 nests, and they all hatched out well, 

 one of thirty-one, one of twenty-six and 

 one of twenty-two. The last nest had 

 only nine eggs; as they were very late 

 I judged that something destroyed the 

 first nest, and that the hen laid only 

 nine on second laying. A farmer mow- 

 ed over her nest, and as they were all 

 "piped" and the workmen kept the 

 hen from returning to the nest, he no- 

 tified me, and at noon I went over and 

 got the eggs, placed them under a hen, 

 and the next morning they were all 

 hatched. I took them back, found the 

 old bird (with my -dog) and I let the 

 voung go. Their "peep" soon brought 

 the mother, and she has the whole nine, 

 save one, now. I saw them yesterday, 

 they are the size of quail. A farmer 

 told me last week that he had found a 

 nest of thirty-one eggs a few weeks ago, 

 and watched them until they hatched 

 every egg. The only reason I can see 

 that will prevent the plan of introduc- 

 ing them here is that they will go to the 

 open fields of grass and especially 

 meadows to breed, and as the the law 

 permits shooting and they in the open 

 they will all be killed as fast as they 

 breed, and before they become numer- 

 ous enough to be compelled to take to 

 the woods. The three farms upon 

 which we have seven broods that we 



