GOLDEN PHEASANT 13 



of a young cock, but these cases are unusual and not normal. The hens will lay fertile 

 eggs during the first spring, but, as I have said, only about a third of the number which 

 they will deposit the following year. 



The hens begin to lay in April, and the eggs should be removed as soon after they 

 are laid as possible. It is not uncommon for the cocks to develop an egg-eating habit, and 

 when this is once fixed it is very difficult to save even a few of the eggs. The hens, 

 when in a rather confined paddock, seldom make a nest, but drop their eggs about the 

 runway, and the cock's quick eyes soon discover the last lain egg and a single peck 

 of the beak destroys all hope of a future chick. If a few artificial eggs are scattered 

 about, he will soon become discouraged and will let the real eggs alone. 



The eggs should be placed under bantams, silkies preferably, as larger hens are 

 almost certain to crush a number of the thin, delicate shells. The time of incubation is 

 from twenty-three to twenty-four days. In freedom the former is probably the normal 

 time, but when eggs are kept a week or two before sitting, the chick will invariably be 

 delayed a few hours in hatching. 



Tiny and wary as the chicks are, they soon learn to care for themselves. It is a 

 fact that for the first few days they seem confused and do not answer readily to the call of 

 the hen. If not kept in a small run attached to the coop, they are liable to stray at this 

 time or perhaps starve. The language of their foster-parent is apparently strange to 

 them, and until they learn to answer her food cluck, the little chaps have a hard time 

 of it. 



When a month old they begin to be independent, and if allowed sufficient freedom 

 will leave the bantam and perch in low shrubs at night, changing from there to still 

 higher perches as their power of flight increases. It has been remarked that they roost 

 at the extremities of the branches, thus avoiding the danger of being caught close to the 

 trunk by tree-climbing enemies. 



A family of six Goldens which was reared in Ireland '' remained in the garden, 

 where they were regularly fed, except at the commencement of winter, when they ceased 

 roosting in the apple-trees, took to a belt of Scotch firs which bounded the garden on 

 one side, and roosted in them all the winter and following spring. I have seen them 

 sitting in the trees when the branches were laden with snow, but they did not seem to 

 suffer in the slightest degree from the severity of winter. About the m.onth of February 

 they first began to wander from the garden for short distances, and as the spring 

 advanced finally disappeared, and I never could hear of their being met with afterwards." 

 I have known five Golden cocks confined with silvers and other pheasants to select 

 evergreens invariably for roosting from four or five species of trees available for the 

 purpose. The choosing of the evergreens is rather interesting when we remember that 

 pines are their roosting-places in China. 



Twenty-four hours after the chicks are hatched they should be placed with the hen 

 in a small coop with vertical slats in front. This may open on a small, fine-mesh wired 

 runway about three by six feet by eighteen inches high, and open at the bottom, placed 

 on the grass. Thus the chicks can have sufficient exercise and sun without being 

 exposed to the direct attacks of cat, rats and other vermin. This will also keep them 

 near the hen and the food-dish, thus facilitating their learning her call-notes, both for 

 food and danger. 



