330 THE KEEPER'S BOOK 



from disease. The result was that instead of being a 

 record year, as was expected, the season of 1908 was 

 a complete failure, with the result that no shooting 

 took place at all. Next season new blood was intro- 

 duced from Yorkshire, and the birds are again increas- 

 ing in number and healthy. There can be no doubt 

 that land or water will only support a certain amount 

 of life which is regulated according to the food. Over- 

 stock and you bring disease and death. How often do 

 we forget that Nature's laws cannot be set at naught 

 with impunity ? 



Pheasant Disease. Overcrowding and interbreed- 

 ing are the main causes of disease in pheasants. When 

 disease breaks out, all affected birds should be killed, 

 and the rest of the stock moved to fresh ground, and 

 a careful examination made into the dietary and 

 hygienic surroundings of the birds. The bodies of all 

 pheasants killed by disease or killed on account of 

 disease should be burned. Disease is often caught from 

 the domestic fowls. The condition of the latter should 

 be carefully inquired into, and the same procedure taken 

 with the affected fowls as with the affected pheasants. 

 It is wise, as soon as disease shows itself, to give lime 

 freely to all the birds. Lime should constitute an essen- 

 tial part of the food of pheasants and of the ground upon 

 which they live. 



When worms appear, isolation of the affected birds 

 becomes imperative, and the removal of the unaffected 

 birds to healthier soil. The affected pheasants in these 



