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PHEASANTS 91 



sorts are on the market. With this may be chopped boiled 



egg, fine crissel or meat meal and finely minced green food, 



such as chickweed, lettuce, watercress or chives. If none of 



these is available, fine alfalfa meal may be substituted. The 



whole mass should be dampened with scalding water until it 



will just hold together when squeezed in the hand. Insect 



food is very necessary for the more delicate species, and 



s supplied in the form of ants' cocoons, commonly known as 



* eggs," and maggots which have been cleaned in dry meal or 



nd for at least forty-eight hours. Recently there has been 



n outcry against the use of maggots for young pheasants, 



;hiefly on the grounds that their production is offensive and 



at they are not essential to the growth of the chicks. This 



s no doubt true for pheasants on range, which are able to 



secure all the insect food they require But birds reared 



in confinement have no such opportunities and insect food 



f some sort must be provided. If maggots are reared in 



ean meat, carefully cleaned in bran for forty-eight hours, 



nd scalded before being fed, there is no doubt that their 



oderate use is of the greatest assistance in rearing the 



oung birds. On the other hand, maggots that have not been 



roperly cleaned are dangerous, and may very probably 



rove fatal to the chicks which eat them. 



When the chicks are about six weeks old, a few small 



rains, such as millet and canary seed, may be added gradu- 



lly to their diet and slowly increased until the young birds, 



ully fledged, are fed practically as are the adults. The 



hicks should be fed, at first, at intervals of from two to 



ree hours, all food uneaten being removed as soon as the 



birds stop feeding. The periods are lengthened slowly until 



grain fed twice daily is found quite sufficient. 



Shade is very essential to the young birds and is best pro- 

 ided in the form of natural shrubbery. If this is not avail- 

 able, small A-shaped shelters may be made of boards or 



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