122 PRACTICAL PHEASANT REARING. 



pheasant, and shall offer the produce to the public as 

 the 'Victoria Cross.' " 



A lady writes to ask me why her young turkeys 

 always die a day or two after they are born ; and, 

 although the question has nothing to do with pheasant 

 rearing, it may perhaps be of service to other would- 

 be turkey rearers if I answer it in this chapter, 

 as it may not be generally known that young turkeys, 

 as a rule, require cramming with egg hard-boiled, of 

 course for two or three days after they are born. 

 They are such fools that they have not the sense to 

 pick and feed themselves, or, if they do apparently 

 peck, they do not swallow the food. Let my readers 

 try the cramming process, and they will probably 

 succeed in rearing turkeys. The best plan is to 

 put some common fowls' eggs to incubate in the 

 same nest as the turkeys' eggs ; let them hatch 

 out together, and the young chickens, having more 

 sense, will feed themselves, and the turkeys will copy 

 them and follow suit. 



The proper way to cram your young turkey or, 

 indeed, pheasant, if you should elect to do so to some 

 weakly birds is to take the chick in your left hand, 

 open its beak, and hold it so with the forefinger of 

 the left hand, whilst with the right you pass into the 

 gullet a pipe-shaped bolus of hard-boiled egg, mixed 

 up with a little oatmeal or Indian-corn meal, lubri- 

 cated with water to the required consistency. 

 Remove your fingers, and allow the bird to swallow ; 



