PLAN OF PROCURING FRESH EGGS. 93 



wild state will always prove inefficient layers. 

 The hen pheasant is in her prime at two years' 

 old. About the fourth season her oviparous 

 powers begin to decline, although her maternal 

 qualifications in other respects do not deteriorate 

 until a much later period. It is, therefore, of 

 consequence to enlist occasionally a few recruits to 

 supply the place of those females who have com- 

 pleted their third year, and who may then be set 

 at large in the preserves. There are various opi- 

 nions as to the number of hens that should be 

 allotted to one cock. Some persons allow as 

 many as five or six. My own conviction, the 

 result of long experience, is that three are 

 sufficient and that the admission of a greater 

 number will entail the frequent occurrence of 

 unproductive eggs, although in a state of nature 

 the relative proportion of the sexes might vary 

 considerably. Let us suppose then that twenty- 

 one hens and seven cocks are turned into this 

 enclosure. They may be fed with barley, beans, 

 peas, rice, or oats ; boiled potatoes, Jerusalem 

 artichokes, and Swedish turnips. A large heap 

 of dry sand, protected by a shed from the rain, 

 must also be provided, in which they are fond of 

 dusting themselves indeed, no pheasantry should 

 be without one as they are by this means ena- 

 bled to rid themselves of vast quantities of para- 



