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practice among game keepers who follow English methods more or less 

 closely not to supply water directly to the chicks. This is done on the 

 theory that if water is supplied in receptacles some of the chicks are sure 

 to develop an abnormal craving for it and, literally, drink themselves to 

 death. The English practice also minimizes the amount of work to be 

 done in the rearing field and the fine-looking birds resulting from it seem 

 to indicate that, intelligently followed, chicks will do well under it. 



Since writing the above paragraph, I have received the following 

 from Mr. Duncan Dunn in which he amplifies his views on the subject 

 of water for young birds: 



I do not water any of my birds until they are more than a 



month old, as I make my feed sufficiently moist to supply the 



water needed. Of course, if I had a field that did not have much 



grass on it I would water once a day. Experiments I have made 



have demonstrated that birds not supplied with water have done 



as well again as those that had it. Where there is a good stand 



of grass the dew that falls upon it gives the young birds all the 



water they need. 



On the other hand, Mr. Rogers and his followers provide water in 



enamelware pans holding one and one-half quarts and which are 1^ 



inches deep, after the fourth or fifth day, when the board frame that has 



confined the chicks is removed. These can be had at the five and ten 



cent stores and are preferable, in my opinion, to the cone-shaped drinking 



fountain, as well as being much cheaper. The water is placed in the tall 



grass some 8 or 10 feet from the coop and is shaded by its door, one end of 



which rests on the ground and the other on a stake so as to afford sufficient 



space for shoving the pan under. Water exposed to the sun is most 



dangerous. It should be changed frequently and the pans should be 



kept very clean. An occasional scalding is good and if disease breaks 



out, this should be done every day. The breeder who contemplates 



action on a large scale may carefully study both systems and determine 



for himself which he prefers to follow, but the man who has only a few 



birds will probably make no mistake in furnishing them water as indicated. 



WIDER RANGE GIVEN AFTER 4 OR 5 DAYS.— By the fourth 

 or fifth day the chicks will have learned the call of the hen and will have 

 been brought to look on the coop as home. They are then ready to be 

 given a wider range, if the weather is good, and the frame run (Figure 6-A) 

 that has hitherto limited their roaming is taken away, the foster mother 

 being still confined to the coop, however. This will add greatly to the 

 supply of insect life to which the birds will have access, and they should 

 go forward rapidly. From the day of their release, the rearing coops should 



