'30 PRACTICAL PHEASANT REARING. 



keep up the requisite number in each nest, and bring 

 in new comers to fill up the boxes left vacant by the 

 change ; remembering each time that you empty a 

 box to change the nest, and well wash the inside and 

 every crevice with the hot lime wash before men- 

 tioned. 



A wild duck's egg, being very thin and clear, may 

 be tested by an experienced hand in three days ; but 

 a pheasant's egg, being thicker in shell and more 

 opaque in colouring, can seldom be diagnosed with 

 accuracy before the eighth or ninth day. An egg- 

 tester can always be procured from whatever firm 

 you may patronise for your incubator. It may be 

 necessary for the keeper to hatch his pheasants' eggs 

 in a building ; if so, the floor should be kept well 

 watered from the very commencement of incubation, 

 a damp atmosphere in a house materially assisting 

 towards a satisfactory result as regards hatching out. 

 The egg boxes indoors are placed in rows along the 

 walls, one above the other. I have seen as many as 

 five different lines of boxes, placed in tiers, each a 

 little above the other, necessitating the use by the 

 keeper of a step ladder to reach to the higher ones. 

 The whole system is very objectionable. The eggs 

 do not hatch as well, nor are the " chicks " as strong, 

 as those produced on " mother earth." The eggs do 

 not receive natural treatment under these conditions ; 

 many chicks die in the shell, and many more are born 

 weakly and remain so ; add to this the man to attend 



