2O Practical Game Preserving. 



Unless one orders the necessary supply from some of the 

 well-known sources, as for instance, the Elvedon Game 

 Farm, there is no knowing whence or how the eggs offered 

 are come by. They may often emanate from the nests of 

 one's own pheasants. However, of this further later on. The 

 bought eggs are of course set off under hens, and the chicks 

 hand-reared and turned out as soon as they are matured 

 enough to look after themselves. They will require feeding 

 somewhat carefully at first, but after about a fortnight or 

 three weeks' time the youngsters will learn to know their 

 way abxmt pretty well, and require less assiduous attention. 

 Buying birds to turn down is only necessary when the 

 present stock of pheasants appears to be deteriorating in 

 quality and healthiness. In such case the mere obtaining 

 of eggs from distant preserves and hatching them out is 

 scarcely a sufficiently speedy process, and it is often a better 

 plan to purchase or exchange a fairly large number of birds 

 with some friendly preserver whose estate is situate in a 

 distant county. Possibly he may also desire a change of 

 blood in his birds, hence the transaction would be mutually 

 desirable. In purchasing fresh birds some discrimination 

 is necessary. Tame or semi-domesticated birds are not 

 worth much as a rule, and there is, to our thinking, nothing 

 like a good healthy lot of carefully caught up wild birds, 

 and, moreover, we would always prefer an equal number of 

 cock arid hen pheasants, in place of the usually recom- 

 mended lot of cock birds only. The best time of year to 

 turn these birds down is at the end of February or 

 beginning of March, six weeks or a month after the season 

 closes. They will then have time to settle down before 



