74 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



only by having recourse to those artificial aids 

 which long experience has taught us are abso- 

 lutely necessary for the increase and maintenance 

 of the species. 



I have no intention here of inflicting on the 

 reader a long essay on the best mode of hatch- 

 ing, rearing, and breeding pheasants, but as my 

 own experience in these matters has been con- 

 siderable, and, on a few points of importance, 

 is somewhat at variance with established usage ; 

 and as during the course of my experiments I 

 have been Ifed, from accidental circumstances, to 

 adopt a plan for obtaining the eggs in a fresh 

 state, more in accordance with nature than had 

 hitherto been tried, and one moreover which has 

 been attended with perfect success, I may be 

 excused for devoting a few pages to the subject. 



On the safe principle of leaving everything 

 to nature where it is possible to do so, I am 

 clearly of opinion that the eggs of pheasants, 

 even when found in an outlying nest, should 

 not be taken for the purpose of placing them 

 under barn-door hens to be hatched. No foster- 

 mother or nurse can compare with the natural 

 parent; and it is surprising, indeed almost in- 

 credible except to those who have witnessed 

 it how frequently a hen pheasant will succeed 

 in bringing up her brood in safety, although the 



