THE REARED PHEASANT 235 



His methods of rearing are worthy of 

 special notice. A pen of about 3 acres 

 was enclosed by 5 feet of 3-inch mesh 

 wire netting inside a wood, the ground 

 being clean in the bottom, and the trees 

 not too close grown to keep out the sun. 

 Into this pen he put 700 chicks with the 

 usual hens and coops, taking particular 

 care that all the chicks were exactly of 

 the same age. When the young birds 

 were three days old, he let all the hens 

 out of the coops, giving them the liberty 

 of the pen with their broods. The chicks 

 could pass through the 3-inch mesh of the 

 wire netting, and so came and went at 

 will, the hen being always at hand inside 

 the pen to lead her brood into the coops 

 for the night and in wet weather. As 

 soon as the young birds were strong 

 enough to pass through the wire, they 

 were fed outside, and the hens inside, the 

 enclosure. 



The same keeper had young pheasants 

 on the rearing-field fed on exactly the 

 same food, and he found that his wood- 



