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or hay between the eggs and the ground. The coop should have

a run attached in which the hen can feed and take exercise.


As soon as the chicks are fairly strong on their legs, they

should be removed, with their foster-mother, on to fresh dry

turf. They must be fed often, but only a little food must be

given each time. It is very important to feed early in the

morning. A favourite food with amateurs is hard-boiled egg

chopped into very small pieces ; this has, however, the dis-

advantage of being soon burnt up by the sun and thus becoming

hard and indigestible.


Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, the greatest living authority on

Pheasants, recommends a custard " made by beating an egg

with a tablespoonful of milk, and ' setting' the whole by a gentle

heat, either in the oven or by the side of the fire." The same

authority advises the use of canary seed in preference to meal

for young birds.


Green food in the form of chopped lettuce and onion-tops

must be supplied in addition to the custard and seed. As the

chicks get strong, more seed and less custard should be given ;

and when five or six weeks old, their owner should begin

to gradually accustom them to barley and wheat. Fresh ants*

cocoons are the natural food for Pheasant chicks, but unless a

constant supply of these be guaranteed, it is best not to

commence feeding with them.


Having briefly touched upon the chief points in connection

with the general management of Pheasants in aviaries, we have

now to consider the kinds best adapted to a life of captivity in

this country.


The genus Phasianus, which includes all the so-called true

Pheasants, claims our attention first, as the most familiar and

beautiful of our game-birds belongs to this group. Everyone is

perfectly familiar with the common English Pheasant, but its

origin is perhaps not so well known. Space will not permit of

my going fully into the details of the introduction of the Chinese

Ringed Pheasant ( Phasiainis torquatus) and of how it freely

crossed with the original P. colchicus, which, before the intro-

duction of the former bird, had reigned supreme in our coverts

for centuries. Suffice it to say that the English Pheasant of

to-day is not a true species, but a hybrid, or perhaps more

correctly a mongrel, albeit a singularly beautiful one, the

product of two varieties or sub-species.


All the true Pheasants, with the exception of the Bar-

tailed, or Reeve's, appear to be capable of freely inter-breeding



