A Walk Round My Aviaries. 89 



birds were not one year old, having been hatched only 

 the previous August ; and again this year 1 have birds 

 as large as any two-year-olds, although they were not 

 hatched till the middle of August, 1886, and which 

 are laying, and have laid since loth April. In a wild 

 state they would have died ; but being well fed, and 

 every care taken during the first part of the autumn, 

 they soon got strong enough to do as well as the 

 early-hatched birds. 



I have several other aviaries, but I have now given 

 up Impeyans, Firebacks, Swinhoes, Peacocks, &c., and 

 go in more for varieties of the true Phasianidae> 

 because they come into full plumage the first year. 



I wish I could induce game-preservers to go more 

 into some of our new varieties ; there is no reason 

 why the Reeves', Versicolor, and, in a year or two, 

 the Elliot, might not be more generally bred than 

 they are. The two former have been tried on some 

 estates ; but, on the whole, these fine breeds have not 

 met with the encouragement they deserve. Scemmer- 

 rings, although true pheasants, have never made much 

 progress, owing, it is thought, to the cocks so fre- 

 quently killing the hens. This would not be the case 

 in preserves ; it is the close quarters, and lack of 

 means to escape by hiding, that tempt the cock to 

 destroy the hen in captivity. 



In bringing this book to a close, I can only add 

 the more I see of these birds the more I admire them, 

 and believe they will amply repay anyone who will 

 devote as much time and attention to them as I have. 



