CHAPTER V. 
MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES (CONTINUED). 
p>. REARING AND PROTECTION. 
7 05 \B ITH regard to the rearing of pheasants in preserves but little 
[4 need be said; the less they are interfered with the better. No 
good can possibly come from disturbing the sitting hens, 
but, on the other hand, a great amount of mischief may 
accrue. When leaving the nest quietly in order to seek food, 
the hen does so in such a manner as not to attract the atten- 
tion of the numerous enemies, as crows, magpies, jays, &., 
that are on the watch to discover and devour her eggs; but 
driven off by the prying intrusion of a visitor, she departs 
without caution, and makes known the situation of her 
concealed nest. The only circumstance warranting any 
interference with the nests of the wild birds, is the occurrence 
of a greater number of eggs than the parent hen is capable of 
rearing as young birds, should the whole of them be hatched. A len pheasant 
is rarely seen with more than six or seven young, at least when they have arrived 
at any size; and as she not unfrequently lays a larger number of eggs, it is an 
advantageous plan to remove all beyond eight or nine for the purpose of hatching 
them under common farmyard hens. Mr. J. Baily, in his ‘“ Pheasants and 
Pheasantries,”” says that if “a keeper knows of forty nests, seven eggs may be 
safely spared from each; this will give two hundred and eighty eggs for tame 
rearing ;” but such a degree of prolificacy in wild pheasants is a higher average 
than has ever come under my notice. 
Another point of very considerable importance with regard to the hreeding 
of pheasants in preserves, is the number of cocks that should be left in the spring 
in proportion to the number of hens. There is no doubt whatever that in a state 
of nature pheasants are polygamous, the stronger males driving away the weaker, 
and taking possession of several hens to constitute their seraglios; hence the custom 
to shoot down most of the cocks, and leave all the hens, even the oldest, to breed. 
