vii. PHEASANT READING (PART VI} in 



of dainties is so much time and money wasted that 

 might be more usefully employed in other ways con- 

 nected with their supervision. 



If pheasants do well naturally, and I may say 

 traditionally, on any particular ground, they will 

 thrive on ordinary diet ; if they do not thrive and 

 they receive proper care, no amount of ' condiments 

 or tonics ' will save them from disaster. 



A keeper has not time to give half a dozen 

 different mixtures to his birds, unless he has a very 

 small number to supervise ; if this is the case he may 

 then occupy his idle hours by experimenting with 

 fancy compounds. 



"When, however, we have several hundred young 

 pheasants in a rearing field, the less time employed in 

 mixing food and serving it out the more leisure is 

 there to protect the birds from vermin, and to attend 

 to their interests in many other ways as well. 



In a wild state the young pheasants feed exten- 

 sively on insects, grubs, and small worms ; but as we 

 cannot supply these in sufficient numbers on a limited 

 extent of ground, as when the birds are reared by 

 hand, we are forced, in order to keep them in health, 

 to bestow animal food in one form or another as a 

 substitute. We are also obliged to give the birds this 

 food in a chopped or concealed condition, so that they 

 may eat it unsuspectingly with their ordinary diet. 



