132 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



(lead stick, is tenanted by insect life, more or 

 less, Avliicli serves for tlie food of the '' nide." 

 Among different kinds of beetles and grubs, the 

 wire-worm forms a considerable quantity in the 

 daily food. In the crop of one hen pheasant, 

 feeding in a clover lay, and shot from off it, 

 I found nearly half a pint of the wire-worm, 

 which is, in my opinion, the worst enemy the 

 farmer has. To meet this necessity for a mild, but 

 yet a rich or sustaining food, maggots, in the 

 chrysalis state, as before remarked, are good, 

 hard egg, minced rabbit's flesh, but, on no 

 account, the stomach or milky part of an old doe ; 

 and last, though by no means the least, really 

 old, coarse Scotch oatmeal, such as I should give 

 to my foxhounds, together with some fresh-boiled 

 beef or mutton fat, to my mind are the best 

 substitute for tlie insect food sought by the 

 pheasant in field and wood. Good greaves are de- 

 cidedly the best for spare use in a kennel when 

 fresh flesh cannot be obtained, and are much less 

 heating for dogs of all kinds tlian those unwhole^ 

 some cakes of tallow which are usually given* A 

 very little boiled greaves may be used for pheasants. 

 In short, I can lay down no directions as to the 



