ORDER GALL1N.E. 229 



seven of these are shut up with a cock, in separate enclosures, 

 which are covered with a net. The separation between two 

 of these enclosures should be sufficiently thick, to prevent the 

 pheasants in one seeing those in another ; if the cocks saw 

 each other, a spirit of rivalry would take place, which would 

 be injurious to propagation. The pheasants should receive 

 nourishing and stimulating food, which hastens the period of 

 reproduction, but they should not be fattened, as this is dan- 

 gerous. The hens which are too fat do not lay so many 

 eggs, and the shell of the latter is so soft that there is a risk 

 of their being broken in incubation. The enclosures should 

 have a southern aspect, and be defended on the northern side 

 by a wood, or high wall. 



Pheasants lay towards the end of April ; it is then neces- 

 sary to collect the eggs every evening, for otherwise they 

 would be often broken or devoured by the hens themselves. 

 About eighteen of them may be put under a common hen, 

 of which a trial has been made the preceding year ; the in- 

 cubation should take place in a subterraneous chamber, so 

 that the heat may be moderated, and the impression of thun- 

 der be less felt. The incubation of these eggs continues for 

 twenty-four, and sometimes for twenty-five days, before the 

 young pheasants are excluded. 



When this takes place, they should be left for twenty-four 

 hours under the hen, without receiving any thing to eat. A box 

 about three feet long, and two and a half wide, is the only 

 space which they should at first be allowed to traverse. The 

 hen is to be with them, but kept in by a grating, which does 

 not prevent communication with the young pheasants ; the 

 part of the box which the hen inhabits, is closed at top, but 

 the rest is open. A roof, however, of light planks, to put on 

 occasionally, is necessary, to protect the young birds either 

 from rain or a too powerful sun. Their liberty is gradually 

 enlarged, and after fifteen days they may be left entirely free ; 



