78 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



The nesting boxes, or the coops if these are used, 

 should be arranged close together in rows along the 

 side of a field, the rearing field if possible, as the hens 

 and chicks will not then have to be moved an incon- 

 venient distance later on. 



Always set your pheasant eggs, whether in boxes 

 or in coops, out of doors on the ground \ eggs placed 



FIG. 12. NESTING Box, FOR SETTING FARM HENS ix ON PHEASANTS' EGGS. 



16 in. square ; back 14 in. high, front 18 in. high ; with openings for a through 

 ventilation (4 in. square, and covered with weasel-proof wire netting). A 

 system of ventilation as here arranged is far better than the usual holes 

 bored with an auger, and enables you to peep into every box as you walk 

 past to see how the hens are behaving. If you are troubled with rats, stand 

 each box on a square piece of small mesh wire netting (it need not be nailed 

 to the box) laid flat on the ground. If the weather is very wet lay a piece of 

 wood or slate over the aperture in the lid. 



under hens in a hatching house never do half as well 

 as those set in the fresh air, with soft earth under 

 them, instead of in the dry, tainted atmosphere and 

 insect-haunted woodwork of a shed ; the want of 

 ventilation in which will also surely affect the fertility 

 of the eggs, however well the hens attend to them. 



