126 PHEASANTS FOB COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



always place mine, hencoop and all, near a plot of cabbages, 

 gooseberries, or raspberries, where they have good covert and 

 feeding, and, above all, are protected from any injury at 

 night during the period of their jugging on the ground, 

 which they do for some time before they fly up to roost. 

 By feeding them at the coops four or five times a day, they 

 will stay in the garden until fully feathered, and able to fly 

 over the wall to the adjacent coverts. I have had hen 

 pheasants that nested in the garden and hatched under 

 gooseberry bushes, coming to my whistle to feed regularly 

 every morning. If the young birds are put out into the covert, 

 the hen and coop (as in the garden) should be brought with 

 them, and laid in a ride close to some very thick covert ; they 

 should be fed there about four times a day, beginning early 

 in the morning, and diminishing as the birds grow strong. 

 I feed them at this period on crushed wheat and barley, 

 "boiled potatoes chopped fine, some boiled rice and curds, all 

 mixed together." 



A very vexed question with regard to rearing of the 

 young birds is the supply of water. Some very practical 

 keepers give no water whatever; others give a very little; 

 whilst a third set keep up an abundant supply. I am strongly 

 of opinion that in this, as in all other respects, we cannot 

 possibly do better than take nature for our guide. When 

 hatched out naturally, there is no doubt that the birds obtain 

 a plentiful supply of water. Even when there is no rain, the 

 cloudless skies are productive of heavy dews, and the young 

 birds may be seen drinking the glistening, drops off the grass 

 in the early morning. Some persons maintain that the ova 

 of the gapeworm are taken in with the water gathered from 

 dewdrops on the grass ; others suggest that they occur in 

 rain-water, but there is no foundation for either of these 

 theories, as the disease is strictly local, which would not be 

 the case if it were disseminated by a flying insect, by dew 

 or rain water, or by any animals inhabiting running water. 

 Much evil is produced by allowing the young pheasants to 



