48 Aviary Pheasants. 



I am told they are true " rocketers," and excellent 

 sporting birds. Keep three or four hens to a cock. 



The cocks are very pugnacious, and, when fighting, 

 spring high in the air; they are also very bold in the 

 aviaries or pens. I have- had several which never 

 allowed me to enter unless armed with a good stick, 

 and I have had many battles. These birds are very 

 apt to eat their eggs when in confinement, and it is 

 a good plan to make a retreat, into which the hen 

 can enter, but having the entrance too small for the 

 cock. The Reeves' cover their eggs with grass, &c. 

 They do not crow like our pheasants, but make a 

 singular calling noise and chuckling. 



The hens lay about a dozen eggs, sometimes more, 

 and frequently want to sit. You can put other eggs 

 under them (aviaries not being suitable for rearing 

 the young), and they hatch and bring up chickens 

 quite as well as the common barndoor hens. Leave 

 the little ones entirely to the mother the cocks never 

 kill them. I think, if a suitable place could be had, 

 it would be better to allow these hens to hatch and 

 rear their own eggs. I have proved that most of the 

 birds of the first year breed, but they do not lay many 

 eggs. I purposely kept, last year, a pen of all young 

 birds, as I wished to test this. 



Feed exactly as you do the other varieties. The 

 Reeves' grow very fast, and soon obtain their full 

 plumage, so the young birds will require ample 

 nourishment. Be careful not to give too much maize 

 to the old birds, or they will get too fat. The cocks 



