122 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



food. The alum is a powerful astringent, and is not a natural 

 diet for young birds. The curd so made only contains two 

 of the constituents of the milk, namely, the caseine and the 

 cream. The whey, containing the sugar of milk, the saline 

 ingredients, and, above all, the bone-making materials, is 

 rejected, whereas, when the milk is made into custard, 

 the whole of the constituents are retained, and to them is 

 added the no Jess valuable ingredients of the egg. There is, 

 in fact, no comparison to be made between the nutritive 

 values of curd and custard. 



Gentles or the maggots of the bluebottle or flesh fly are 

 used by some keepers. They are generally obtained by 

 hanging up in the woods, at a distance from a human 

 habitation, some horseflesh, a dead rabbit, or the bodies of 

 vermin that have been killed, and the gentles are allowed to 

 drop into a tub of bran. The plan is necessarily offensive. 

 A much better plan, in situations where it can be employed, is 

 to allow the dead bodies of any animals to become thoroughly 

 fly-blown, and then to bury them a few inches in the soil, 

 as previously described. It is obvious, however, that this 

 plan cannot be pursued where the pheasants are reared under 

 hens confined in coops. Maggots can also be procured in the 

 neighbourhood of the sea coast by adopting the following 

 plan, recommended in Cornwall Simeon's " Stray Notes on 

 Fishing and Natural History." 



"It is not, I think, generally known that maggots 

 admirably adapted for feeding young pheasants and par- 

 tridges can be procured from common sea-weed. This 

 should be taken up as near low water mark as possible, 

 placed in a heap, and allowed to rot about a fortnight, after 

 which it will be found swarming with maggots, rather 

 smaller than those bred in flesh. The keeper from whom I 

 learnt this dodge, a man of considerable experience in his 

 vocation, tells me that he considers them, as food for young 

 birds, superior to flesh maggots, inasmuch as they may be 

 given in any quantity, without fear of causing surfeit." 



