THE GOLDEN PHEASANT. 



<lauger is to he feared, for on these occasions the cats come 

 very long distances, attracted no d(jubt by scent, and wlien 

 they have once found your birds will Ije sure to pay them 

 almost nightly visits. As the birds are valued for their 

 beauty, it will add considerably to the perfection of their 

 plumage to place a sufHcienoy of perches for their 

 accommodation ; not spare and thin ones, but made of deal 

 spars about liin. square, the sharp edges being taken off 

 with a plane. Tliis will prevent their tails rubbing, and, 

 whether intended for attraction or sale, add not a little to 

 their value. 



" In selecting the brood stock, a cock with four or even 

 live hens will Ije a fair jjnjportion. I always prefer a cock 

 bird of the second year and heus of the same age (because 

 they lay far more eggs), though the eggs of ])ullets of the 

 preceding year are productive. The young hens will ouly lay 

 ten or twelve eggs in a season, but the older birds when 

 carefully managed will fre([uently lay thirty to forty eggs in 

 the same period. These eggs require a longer incubation 

 than those of common fowls, as they generally hatch on the 

 tweuty-fourth day, though I have repeatedly known tin m 

 'Continue in the shell a day longer; therefore, if desirous of 

 rearing a chicken or two with them (to insure greater 

 familiarity), the fowls' eggs must be deposited accordingly, 

 as nothing tends si> sudly to unsettle a hen at hatching time 

 as some ]iortioii of her chicks coming a day or t'.vo previously 

 to the remainder, and it not untrequently leads to the 

 desertion of her nest. 



" The egsis laid in an aviary should be at once removed 

 from Golden i'heasants directly they are laid ; the cocks 

 being especially inclined to peek and eat them the moment 

 they are pi-oduced. The liest remedy I know is to pro- 

 cure half a (Id/.en artificial eggs, and let them lie abmit 

 always, and then the liirds, seeing tliem constantly, 

 reo-ard them less. Tiiey are raised in confinement much 

 more easily than the common pheasant, the young growing 



