Book VII. 



PHEASANTS. 



109: 



947 



' IT 



943 



KP 



certain height, as about a foot and a half; which should project out three or four inches at the top, to prevent 

 their getting up more effectually. A common mode in France is to raise a boarded room on a strong post 

 powerfully braced (Jig. 94d), the interior sides of which are lined with boxes for the birds {a), and the 

 exterior east and west sides with balconies, or sills for them to alight 

 on and enter their boxes (A). The north and south sides are lined 

 with boxes inside, but without openings, as being too cold on the one 

 front, and too warm on the other. 



7513. The interior of the pigeon-house must be lined with nests or 

 holes ; subdivided either by stone, as in the ancient mural pigeon, 

 houses ; by boards ; or each nest composed of a vase or vessel of 

 earthenware fixed on its side. Horizontal shelves [Jig. 947.), divided 

 vertically at three feet distance, are generally es- 

 teemed preferable to every other mode ; the width 

 of the slielf may be twenty inches, the height be- 

 tween shelf and shelf eighteen inches; and a slip 

 of board three or four inches high is carried along 

 the front of the partitions to keep in the nests. 

 Sometimes, also, a partition of similar height is 

 fixed in the middle of each three-feet division, 

 which thus divides it into two nests. This Mow- 

 bray and Girton concur in recommending, as likely 

 to prevent the young from running to the hen 

 when sitting over fresh eggs, and perhaps occasion- 

 ing her to cool and addle them ; for when the young 

 are about a fortnight or three weeks old, a good hen 

 will leave them to the care of the cock, and lay 

 again. Some prefer breeding-holes with no board 

 in front, for the greater convenience of cleaning 

 the nests ; but as the squabs are apt to fall out by 

 this practice, a good way would be to contrive the board in front to 

 slip up and down in a groove, by which each nest might be cleaned 

 at pleasure. As tame pigeons seldom take the trouble of making a 

 nest, it is better to give them one of hay, to prevent tlie eggs from 

 rolling. There are also straw buckets made in the form of nests, 

 and also nests or pans of earthenware. Where pans are used, it is 

 common to place a brick between them (two being placed in a breed- 

 . ing hole), for the cock and hen to alight on ; but on the whole straw 



nests are best. The pigeon-house has two entrances, one a common-sized door for man, either on the 

 ground level, or to be ascended to by a ladder, as used formerly to be the case ; and the other on a rising 

 above the roof, and consisting of small holes three or four by twelve or fourteen inches, for the entrance 

 of the pigeons. A series of ranges of these are generally placed over each other, in a boarded front looking 

 to the south, with a shelf to each range, and surrounded by a row of iron spikes to protect them from cats. 

 Ihe elevation of pigeon -houses (jig, gts.), as already described, are of endless variety. 



754*. The breeding holes constitute the fixtures of the pigeon-house ; its 

 utensils are the hopper and bottle already described (7539.), a barrel or box 

 for food, a step ladder to reach the nests, and some other articles not pecu- 

 liar to this department of rural economy. The pigeon-trap, for enticing and 

 entrapping the pigeons of others, we do not describe. 



7545. Pigeons in new lodgings are apt sometitnes to forsake their habit, 

 ations. Many nostrums have been recommended to prevent them from doing 

 SO; but if squabs be selected, cleanliness and security attended to, and a salt 

 cot placed in or near the house, there will be little danger of this taking 

 place. Fumigation with highly odoriferous drugs, or even assafoetida, is 

 also said to attract pigeons to a neglected dovecote, or attach them to a new 

 one 



7516. Diseases of pigeons. Fancy pigeons, being many of them monstrous 

 productions, are very subject to diseases. Girton enumerates upwards of a 

 dozen, with their cures, including the corruption of the egg in the uterus 

 from over high feeding ; a gorged crop from voracious feeding ; insects from 

 filthiness in the pigeon-house, and the canker from cocks fighting with each 

 other. Little can be done in the way of curing any of these diseases other, 

 wise than by recurrence to the proper regimen : if this does not speedily 

 take effect, it is better to put the bird hors de peine, both for humanity's sake 

 and to prevent infection. Fortunately, the common pigeon reared for the 

 table is little liable to diseases. 



7.547. Laws respectirig pigeons. By the 1st of James, c. xxvii., shooting, 

 or destroving pigeons by other means, on the evidence of two witnesses, is 

 punishable by a fine of 205. for every bird killed or taken ; and by the 2d of Geo. III. c. xxix. the same 

 offence may be proved by one witness, and the fine is 205. to the prosecutor. Any lord of the manor or 

 freeholder may build a pigeon-house upon his own land, but a tenant cannot do it without the lord's 

 licence. Shooting or killing within a certain distance of the pigeon-house, renders the person liable to 

 pay a forfeiture. 



7548. The common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus i.) is a native of the old continent, 

 but not of America, and has long been naturalised in the wanner and most woody- 

 counties of England. It is very common in France, and before the Revolution used 

 to be a great nuisance to the farmers, even to the gates of Paris. The pheasant runs 

 fast, but flies low and heavily ; it crows not unlike the common cock, being of the same 

 genus, and is supposed to live six or eight years. 



7549. Pheasants are both granivorous and carnivorous; they feed upon all sorts of insects and vermin 

 like the peacock, and are said to be greedy of toads, when not too large to swallow ; whereas, according 

 to report, they will not touch the frog, of which ducks are so fond. They are prized in park scenery for 

 their beautiful plumage and showy figure, and as game for the delicacy of their flesh, which is of a high 

 flavour and alkalescent qualitv. It is in season in autumn, and most esteemed when under a year old, and 

 very fat. Every gentleman who has a well wooded, well enclosed park, and in who.-iC woods are abundance 

 of such evergreens as the spruce fir, hollv, box, broom, ^c, may stock it with pheasants ; and he may 

 preserve his stock if he will continue to supply them with abundance of food, and deter thieves, pole- 

 eats, &c. The more common the pheasant becomes, the less will it be subjected to the attacks of those 

 enemies. 



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