The Common Pheasant. 69 



There is no doubt that, when birds are failing, con- 

 sequent on a dry, cold season, or a very hot one, 

 nothing helps them so much as plenty of ants' eggs 

 or well-scoured maggots ; but beware of these latter, 

 unless well scoured, as they are sure to produce 

 diarrhoea. 



The Chinese, or Ring-necks, are undoubtedly the 

 most prolific layers ; but they are also the most 

 inveterate wanderers. It is said the old dark birds 

 are not so easy to rear as these ; on this I am not 

 able to form a positive opinion. The old dark, or 

 bronze, bird is by most people admired ; but the 

 Chinese is rapidly removing, by its intermixture, all 

 traces of the original bird we had from the Thasis 

 river many centuries ago. You very seldom see a 

 bird at a game-dealer's that has not a large taint of 

 Chinese blood, and during the last ten years I have 

 examined thousands. 



Towards the end of July, 1885, some eggs of the 

 common pheasant were given me, which had been 

 found while mowing some late clover. These were 

 hatched I2th August; I reserved five hens, placing 

 them with an adult hen and a young cock. They 

 began to lay i/j-th April, and up to 25th June, 1886, 

 had laid 248 eggs ; they continued to lay until the 

 second week in August, by which time they had 

 produced over seventy eggs each. The eggs up to 

 June 25th went to a friend ; the remainder I set, and 

 hatched at the rate of twelve, and even fourteen, 

 birds out of every fifteen eggs. So these prolific 



