Practicai, Bird-Kkeping. 



XIX. 

 THE GAME BIRDS. 



By W. H. St. Ouintin. 



I have been asked to contribute suggestions for keeping 

 some of the Game Birds, founded upon my own experience, to 

 form part of the "Practical Notes"' which, for some months, have 

 been a useful feature in our Magazine. Valuable papers have 

 from time to time appeared in past numbers, relating to the 

 Management and especially to the Breeding of some Families of 

 this extensive order, notably, Mr. Seth-Smith's upon the Quails 

 and Hemipodes, and as I do not wish to go over old ground, I 

 will confine myself in the main either to such species as are less 

 often kept, or in the Management of which special difficulties 

 appear to have presented themselves. 



As a preliminary, I would remark that, in the Management 

 of Birds of this Order, much will depend upon the character of 

 the soil upon which the birds are to be kept. 



Many of the difficulties which beset the aviculturist who 

 aspires to keep the more tender species, disappear if he is so 

 fortunate as to possess aviaries or enclosures upon a light soil, 

 in the composition of which sand and gravel predominate. 

 This applies more particularly to aviaries. In these the birds 

 necessarily ' work ' the same piece of ground very intensely — 

 Especially up and down the boundaries, whether of wire netting 

 or other material, they are apt to make runs and paths which, 

 if the soil be sticky, seriously affects the beauty of their plumage. 

 It is a sad sight to see a fine Reeves or Amherst Pheasant trailing 

 his train feathers in the mud as he fidgets up and down the fence 

 of his run. 



