FEEDING IN PENS. 8;J 



smallest quantity, to be exceedingly injurious; nor do I 

 approve of the spiced condiments so strongly recommended 

 by the makers. The bodies of dead domestic animals can, 

 however, be most advantageously utilized by allowing them 

 to become thoroughly fly-blown, and then burying them under 

 about a foot of soil in the pens, where the maggots go through 

 the regular stages of growth, after which they work their way 

 to the surface in order to effect their change into chrysalids. 

 They furnish an admirable supply of insect food for the birds, 

 and give them constant occupation and exercise in scratching 

 in the ground. Utilised in this manner, the bodies of dead 

 fowls, or any small domestic animals, are perfectly inoffensive, 

 and the result is most advantageous to the birds. 



The employment of crushed bones, as a substitute for the 

 varied animal substances the pheasant feeds upon when in a 

 wild state, is highly advantageous. Mr. F. Crook writes : — 

 ^' We have seen many instances of game being perfectly cured 

 of both eating their eggs and plucking each other, by the 

 continual practice of giving a portion of well-smashed bones 

 every day. These remarks apply more especially to the home 

 pheasantries, in consequence of the absence of the natural 

 shell stuff they pick up when at liberty, but we would 

 recommend some to be thrown about the feeding grounds of 

 the preserves, as the highly nutritious nature of the elements 

 of smashed fresh bones conduces remarkably to keep the birds 

 together, particularly in very wet seasons, when the condition 

 ■of the land renders it impossible for them to scratch about to 

 the same extent." Should the aviary be situated on soil in 

 which small stones are absent, these must be supplied ; this 

 is conveniently done by throwing in some fresh gravel once 

 or twice a week; but it has been found by many pheasant 

 rearers that small granite grit is far superior to any other 

 material that can be supplied, and some of the most successful 

 rearers are in the habit of having truckloads of this forwarded 

 by rail from the granite quarries, solely for the use of their 

 pheasants. 



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