132 PHEASANTS FOE COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



given to them once a day. I saw a brood last week that had 

 only had water once, quite early in the morning ; they were 

 being fed again in the evening, but would eat nothing. I 

 then ordered some water to see what they would do, and the 

 little birds and the old hen went to it at once, and seemed as 

 if they could never have enough." And a third, writing to 

 me on the same object, states : " I have been a rearer of 

 pheasants for nearly thirty years. I give mine an unlimited 

 supply of water at all stages of their growth, and I consider 

 that it would be great cruelty to withhold it from them. I do 

 not consider broods brought up by their mothers in dry fields 

 where no water is to be found at all to the point. How can 

 our poor artificial foods compare with the thousand and one 

 varieties they find in nature, full both of nourishment and 

 moisture, with which it is impossible for us to supply 

 them in confinement ? I quite endorse your suggestion 

 as regards the great value of lettuce for pheasants. I have 

 fed them for some years with it, and they are very fond 

 of it." 



On the other hand, many successful keepers do not give 

 water, or only in very small quantity. One correspondent 

 says : " I know a keeper who rears a great number of 

 pheasants each year, and he does not give them water till 

 they are seven or eight weeks old, at which age they begin 

 to eat barley and corn, and require water to assist digestion. 

 He says that pheasants in their wild state take the dew in 

 the mornings, and only in very dry weather do the old hens 

 take their broods to water. In very dry weather, when there 

 is little or no dew, he sprinkles water twice a day on the 

 grass, but never puts any down for them until the time before 

 stated, and when he waters the hens he does not allow the 

 pheasants to drink." The writer of the following letter 

 holds the balance very fairly between the opposing views : 

 " Much depends on the nature of the food upon which the 

 chicks are fed as to whether they should have water or not ; 

 if they are fed on dry food, and the weather is warm and 



