PHEASANTS FOR ro VERTS AND AVIARIES. 



witli great i-apidity if well and frequently fed f>n custard, 

 Ijoiled eg'gs, good cheese — all choped fine — and mixed with 

 bruised lieni]i and canary seed. The maggots pi-oduced in 

 flesh from the bIo\v-Hy will tend very greatly to their rapid 

 gr(jwth. I am perfectly aware that ants' eggs are preferable, 

 but wdien these are not available maggots 'will be found an 

 excellent substitute, and should be given daily till the poults 

 are somewhat grown. Wheat, hemp, and barley are the 

 l)est food for the old stock. It is soiuewha.t singular that 

 neither variet}' will agree eouifortably with the crjuimon 

 pheasauts in a wood ; notwithstanding, I have seen the 

 hybrids produced between these lairds and the coniinon 

 pheasants. They are very beautiful, being of a strikinglv 

 rich auburn, shnding' into every variety of gold C(dour ; but 

 they were invariably unprolific, and sought every possilile 

 op])ortuaity to evince their pugnacity to all other birds 

 confined with them. 



" Golden I'heasants will endure every severitv of our 

 climate. Sonic years since I gave away some eggs, from 

 wd-iich birds were hatched and turned hiose in a large 

 plantation ; they bred freely the eusning year, and well 

 stocked the preserve ; the year following some withdrew to 

 a covert at some considerable distance, driving awaA' the 

 common ]")lieasants and taking possession of the whole. Sijme 

 Golden J^heasauts' eggs, which I forwarded as a ])resent to 

 a friend whnse j^reserves are a.mong the largest in the 

 kingdom, ^vere hatched very early last season and the birds 

 turned louse; these bore all the rigours of winter as well as 

 a7iy others, but in the spring began to show a decided 

 aversion to their fellows of more sombre hne." 



Mr. Hewitt further stated that the sexes in the chicks 

 were easily distinguished, the eyes of the cocks being light, 

 those of the hens deep hazel. 



Golden Pheasants that have escaped to the coverts and 

 been shot are found when cooked to be of very delicate 

 flavour. These escaped birds will sometimes breed with the 



