THE PREPARATION. ETC., OF FOOD. 81 



pheasant, although formic acid is found in the ant's 

 egg, which, could the article be procured in sufficient 

 quantity, is undoubtedly the best, the handiest, and 

 most natural food for the young pheasant, and more 

 especially for the young partridge ; the rearing of 

 which latter, without the aid of the ant, is, to my 

 mind, more or less of an impossibility. 



Some favoured localities there are, in Norfolk 

 and Suffolk principally, where ant heaps are to be 

 found in such abundance that the keeper has 

 literally nothing whatever to do but to pull his 

 coops about from one to the other; although even 

 then he will be wise to adopt the hint before given, 

 to render it impossible for the young birds to 

 be driven to desperation by the stings of the parent 

 ants. 



But, in the absence of formic, the administration 

 of uric acid has been often found, when birds are 

 doing badly for apparently no perceptible reason,, 

 to produce very satisfactory results. This is best 

 applied by means of wheaten bread, toasted and 

 soaked for twenty-four hours in "chamber lye," dried 

 again, and crumbled up amongst the regular food ; 

 eliminate the crust. 



As to the merits of custard as a food for young 

 pheasants, I am happy to find myself in thorough 

 accord with such an authority as Mr. Tegetmeier, 

 whose words on the subject, to be found at p. 72 of 

 his invaluable work on the pheasant, I cannot pos- 



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