county. During one of the three years, a temperature of 33° below zero 

 was registered. 



Mr. Burnham states that he personally has seen ringnecks bud on 

 apple trees during the winter and that other residents of the county have 

 also observed them getting their food in this way. Ringnecks have also 

 been observed in Essex County feeding on bitter-sweet vines in stressful 

 weather. The country about Essex is wooded, showing that the bird will 

 adapt itself readily to such surroundings. 



PHEASANT VERSUS DOMESTIC FOWL.— As the main purpose 

 of this manual is to encourage the general farmer and estate owner to take 

 up pheasant breeding along with his poultry or substitute it is an activity 

 that promises better profit than domestic fowl, the rewards it ofi^ers to the 

 successful breeder should be examined. Pheasants mature rapidly and it 

 costs less in feed and little more in care to produce fifty or one hundred 

 birds than the same number of chickens, yet retail dealers pay for domestic- 

 bred pheasants $3.50 to $4 a pair for eating purposes in the New York 

 market during the season, which runs from October to May. Better than 

 that, however, the pheasant farmer can count pretty surely on securing at 

 least $5 a pair for birds sold for breeding purposes, and the demand for 

 breeders frequently exceeds the supply. 



DEMAND FOR BREEDERS.— Pheasants, however, are in principal 

 request for breeding. Every fall and during February and March, there 

 is a demand for birds for this purpose, and those who have attempted to 

 secure them will testify to their scarcity. Spring-hatched birds were 

 quoted at $5 a pair and hens at $3 apiece early this fall by the largest 

 commercial breeder in the country and the price advanced fifty cents to $1 

 as the market was cleaned up. Two-year-old birds are preferred for 

 breeding and bring a premium of at least $1 a pair. They are hard to ob- 

 tain. Birds are wanted at the ratio of one cock to four or five hens usually 

 for breeding purposes, though orders are not infrequently placed for cocks 

 or hens alone, the former usually. 



Every year sees additional sportsmen's clubs taking up the breeding 

 of ringnecks for their covers and they, of course, have to obtain birds or 

 eggs in order to make a start. Again, clubs and breeders generally who are 

 already engaged in the business have to secure fresh stock yearly in order 

 to preserve the stamina of their birds. 



Some clubs buy birds in large quantities each year for shooting and 

 two orders of this nature totaling 6,000 birds were filled this year. 



REARING BIRDS FOR SPORTSMEN.— Farmers are sometimes 

 employed by sportsmen's clubs to rear pheasants from eggs obtained 



