EGG STATISTICS AND PHEASANTS 223 



he was facetiously called ' Chicken Hazard.' When 

 it is considered that upwards of 1,300,000,000 eggs 

 are imported into this country annually, and the im- 

 ports of poultry and game, alive and dead, amount 

 to nearly 600,000/. per annum, it may well be 

 imagined what a branch of agricultural industry this 

 is ! Alas, like many other things, the times are 

 altered, yet there ought to be sufficient demand to 

 secure more attention to this industry, and, it is 

 hoped, to afford profit and pleasure to many a 

 country household. 



The rearing of pheasants in confinement is also 

 a delightful and very profitable occupation. When 

 I lived at Lee, in Bucks, on the borders of Herts, I 

 had nearly three hundred hen pheasants. The birds 

 were kept in pens about sixteen feet square, made 

 with hurdles specially adapted for the purpose. Each 

 pen was composed of eight hurdles about seven feet 

 high and eight feet long, the lower half closely 

 railed, to prevent the birds from fighting and peck- 

 ing each other, also to protect them from the depre- 

 dations of cats, foxes, and other vermin. These 

 hurdles cost, when new, from Si', to lo.y. each. One 

 cock is put to six hens ; all have their wings cut 

 to prevent their flying over. A movable house on 

 wheels, costing about 10/., for sheltering the man in 

 charge, with three kennels for the dogs — which 

 were always kept on guard — a water trough in each 

 pen, and a few branches of holly, laurel, or other 

 evergreen, are placed in each enclosure. The hen 

 birds cost from 8^. to 12^. each, the cocks ^s. to 6s. 

 Thus it would take a capital of about 300/. to com- 



