Pheasants Rearing by Hand. 35 



Ants' eggs are always a desideratum for young pheasants, 

 but their scarcity, and the difficulty of obtaining them in 

 sufficient quantities, prevents their extended use. As a 

 substitute, Spratts " Crissel " may be given, and for this 

 purpose is a very useful food, or rather condiment. Of the 

 many prepared pheasant foods, the less said the better, they 

 are for the most part expensive and inferior to good honest 

 grain, &c. As an occasional change, Spratts and Chamber- 

 lin's can be recommended, but for our part we prefer to 

 leave them alone. Meat, greaves, &c., are objectionable, 

 but broth made from wholesome meat bones is beneficial 

 and desirable to mix occasionally with the food of pheasants 

 at an early age. Gentles are only of use when the birds 

 show signs of binding, in which case a few prove an effective 

 and simple purgative. As a food they are useless. More 

 pheasants have failed to thrive and have died off through 

 the oft recommended feeding with gentles than from any 

 of their little ills, gapes, perhaps, excepted. 



The proper time for feeding varies. Until the youngsters 

 are about a week old, six or eight times a day is not too 

 often, but by the end of a fortnight or so, we like the feeds 

 per day reduced to three. These may be given morning, 

 noon, and night. Most pheasant rearers recommend the first 

 to be given as early as possible in the morning, but we much 

 prefer about eight o'clock, as one has time to get things in 

 order, and furthermore there is no advantage gained by bring- 

 ing out the chicks very early. The second feed we would 

 give at about one o'clock, and the last between four and five. 

 We always put in a little fresh food after each meal, to which 

 the chickens can resort between whiles if they choose. 



D 2 



