THE GOLDEN PHEASANT. 25 



with a quantity of which I always was prepared prior to the young- 

 being hatched. I took care to have a constant supply during the 

 season, by hanging a cow's liver over a barrel, in the bottom of which was 

 some bran or saw dust, into which the maggots dropped. A fresh liver 

 was hung up about once a week. In addition to these larvae, the young 

 were supplied with potatoes, alum curd, groats, and Indian corn meal, 

 when to be had ; this last I found they were very fond of, and it seemed 

 to agree with them particularly well. It was mixed into the form of 

 soft dough with a little water, which was all that was required. They 

 were also constantly supplied with green food, such as lettuce, when 

 they were in the aviary. But the best way is to have a coop, railed in 

 front, into which they are put with the hen twenty-four hours after they 

 are hatched. This coop should be placed upon a gravel walk as near 

 to the windows of the house as possible, so that they may always be 

 within observation ; a small verdure garden is the best possible locality, 

 as the young have plenty of range, with shelter under the bushes from 

 both sun and rain. In the instance which I have already alluded to, 

 the hen was allowed to range about six feet from the coop, by means of 

 a small cord attached to a leather strap round one of her legs and the 

 other end tied to the coop : the young pheasants never wandered far 

 from the hen, and always came into the coop to remain with her at 

 night. In front of each coop a small frame was put down, boxed round 

 on three sides, without a bottom, and railed at top ; the open side was 

 put close to the coop, and the young birds could run through the rails 

 of the coop into the enclosed space, and were safe from the night 

 attacks of cats, rats, &c. This frame was always kept before the coops 

 for the first few days after the young were hatched, and until they 

 became acquainted with the call of the hen. When I first began to rear 

 young pheasants I could not at all account for their seemingly foolish 

 manner for the first two or three days after being hatched ; they would 

 run gaping about without appearing to notice the hen or her calls to 

 them to come for food. The reason of this I afterwards believed to 

 have been owing to their ignorance of the language of their fos- 

 ter-mother, which it took some time for them to understand : 

 during this process it is necessary to keep them confined within 

 the frame before their coops, as were they to wander a few yards 

 from the hen they would "not heed her call, and woidd inevitably perish. 

 When three or four weeks old, it is necessary, if they are to be kept 



